Roommates
by Direlions
Summary: Faith unexpectedly finds herself at UC Sunnydale together with Buffy and Willow. Even more surprising she ends up sharing a dorm room with Buffy. Will this turn out to be a blessing or a curse?  Alternate events: Faith never killed Finch.
1. Chapter 1

**Roommates**

Faith halted to heave her duffel bag a little higher up her shoulder when her eyes fell on the large banner with colourful letters painted over it: "Welcome Freshmen to UC Sunnydale!". She stared at it for a while until people started bumping into her. The road was full of young people carrying all kinds of bags and boxes. They all looked excited, ready for a new phase in their young lives. Some were accompanied by proud looking parents, others were alone and nervous looking.

Faith wasn't nervous... she just couldn't quite believe where she was. Only a few months back she would've laughed at anyone even suggesting she should go to university. But here she was, starting her first year at Sunnydale university. And even more surprising: she was happy about it.

Faith had never liked school. Not because she wasn't smart enough or anything. She just couldn't cope with all the damn rules. People telling her what to do always rubbed her the wrong way. It was also boring. So. Very. Boring. Faith was never able to sit still and concentrate. So she would just skip class and hang around the city. No-one seemed to care about her skipping nearly all her classes so she just stopped going altogether.

It had never bothered her until she arrived in Sunnydale. It was all Buffy's fault really. She would never stop yapping about how school was important, even for slayers. She had Giles and Willow to back her up and after a while even Buffy's mom started to whine about it. Normally she wouldn't have given in but... she did care about what Buffy thought of her. She was the closest thing she ever had to a friend and going to school was a great excuse to hang out with her even more.

So she had re-inscribed at Sunnydale High with the help of Giles and Joyce. It had been a complicated procedure because the school year was already halfway over. But with some excuses and false documents (compliments of Willow) she was finally allowed to start classes. And much to everyone's surprise Faith had managed to catch up and pass all her exams.

At first the plan was to just get a high school diploma (which had been difficult enough with that giant snake at the graduation ceremony). But Giles, who seemed especially fond of her now, advised her to apply to a few universities. "Just in case" he had said. It had seemed stupid to her at first, especially seeing how even Buffy probably wasn't going to university, but she had done it anyways.

And so now she, Buffy and even Willow were going to attend UC Sunnydale. It was pretty mind boggling.

She trudged onwards in the hot sun towards the dorms carrying her bags and trying to hold on to the tiny creased map of the campus.

When she arrived at the building she could already tell that this was going to be the nicest place she had ever lived in. She dragged her bags up the first flight of stairs while digging in her jeans' pockets for the paper that told her what room she would be staying in. She halted on the second floor and smoothed the paper out a bit.

_Your room number: **214**_

She picked up her bags again and made her way down the hall looking left and right to check the numbers on the doors. She quickly found the room she was looking for and put her hand on the door handle hoping her roommate wasn't a total bitch. When she turned the handle and opened the door however she found herself staring into a very familiar face.

"B? What the fuck are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the very same thing. This is my room you know."

Faith looked down at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand and then back at the door.

"Well it's my room too princess."

"No way, that can't be right" she said as she threw down the stuff she was holding and walked over to check the paper in Faith's hand. "Let me see that."

"I guess that means we're roommates now." Faith couldn't suppress a wide smile creeping over her features. She kinda liked the idea of having Buffy as her roommate. It was certainly more appealing to her than sharing with a complete stranger. And it might have some other perks as well...

"This... This is great!" Buffy looked up from the paper with a radiant smile. "Better than great! This is amazing!" She pulled Faith into a quick hug and then started dancing across the room. "I can't believe I lucked out like that! Here I was worrying that I was gonna have to share with a complete stranger but... I can't believe it! Now I won't have to hide my stakes and holy water! And I won't have to explain where I go every night when I'm on patrol! ... "

She kept babbling for a while longer about the advantages of having Faith as a roommate while Faith herself tried to get over the shock of being hugged by Buffy. She hadn't expected Buffy to be this happy about it and she certainly hadn't expected a hug. She wasn't the kind of person that hugged so Buffy was lucky to get away with her head still attached.

Faith smiled a little as she watched her friend dance excitedly across the room.

When Buffy had finally calmed down Faith had dragged her bags fully into the room and started unpacking.

"Is that all you brought with you?" Buffy asked eying Faith's bags while she continued to unpack her own things.

"You should be happy I didn't bring that much. It wouldn't fit in this room along with all your junk"

"Are you complaining already? Well you're a sucky roommate."

"You don't know half of it. I'll bet you anything you'll be begging for another roommate before the week's up." Faith said with a smirk.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm just saying you shouldn't cheer before you find out what living with me is like."

Buffy eyed her warily but didn't answer.


	2. Chapter 2

Faith was done unpacking in a matter of minutes so she flopped down on her still unmade bed to watch Buffy run back and forth. Just when Faith had been ready to make a remark about Buffy pulling a plush piggy out of a bag while blushing heavily they heard a voice from the still open door.

"uh.. Hi guys."

"Oh hey Willow!" Buffy seemed happy with the distraction and sneakily hid the plush pig under her sheets. "What room are you in?"

"oh, I'm on the third floor... Are you guys roommates?"

"Yeah! Isn't it great?" Buffy continued to put clothes in her wardrobe while talking "I was so worried about the whole roommate thing but it turns out it's just Faith. I'm so relieved, I don't think I could handle living with a complete stranger."

Faith could tell that Willow wasn't happy with this outcome, but Buffy didn't seem to notice. She was way too relieved to notice the distress her friend was in. Willow looked like she was about to cry so Faith quickly interrupted Buffy's happy little rant in order to comfort her a little.

"Don't worry red, you can hang out here whenever you feel like it."

"Huh? I... I wasn't worried. I don't really care..."

Yeah right. "Well, I though I just let you know, my room is your room... or some crap like that. Besides I think it's good that me and Buffy don't have to bother any non-slayers. With the long hours and such. Also me and B aren't very studious, we would just annoy you."

"Speak for yourself F." Buffy glared at her jokingly.

Nevertheless Willow seemed to be feeling a little better now so Faith felt safe to ask her about her roommate.

"Her name is Tara. She's pretty quiet and shy but she seems nice enough."

"Well that doesn't sound too bad. When I'm done unpacking I'll go up and say hi."

"And when will that be? In a month?" Faith grinned and dodged the shoe Buffy threw at her.

...

"There. All done" Buffy said while stuffing her last pieces of clothing into her already overflowing wardrobe.

"Oh wow. It took you only..." Faith checked her watch, "three hours! I think we have a record on our hands!"

"Oh get of it. Not everyone can manage with just 3 pair of pants and 5 shirts."

"How very dare you. I'll have you know I have at least 1 more pair of pants" Faith said with mock indignation.

"Don't you own at least one nice dress or something?"

"Nope. Not even one. Cute and girly is your thing. Besides, I'm a slayer, I haven't got a use for one."

"I didn't say you'd have to go slaying in it. It would just look nice on you."

"Oh? But I look nice enough already don't I?" Faith wiggled her eyebrows and ran her hands up and down her body alluringly.

"I dunno. That big head of yours is sorta off putting." Buffy scoffed.

"Aw don't say that. You'll hurt my feelings."

They were playing their usual game again. Faith loved joking around with Buffy. Though there was an annoying little voice in the back of her brain that told her the playful flirting wasn't all just a joke. Not to her anyway.

Faith tried to ignore it but the little voice persisted: "Why don't you go for it? Angel has gone and fucked off and now you're even sharing a room together! This is your chance!"

But Faith pushed those thoughts to the back of her head again. She couldn't take the risk. She may have been dying to get into Buffy's pants but she didn't want to sacrifice her friendship for it.

Be that as it may, she was not going to stop ogling Buffy with every chance she got. Maybe she could even catch a glimpse of her naked if she got lucky.

"So... if you're done. Want to go up and meet Willow's roommate?" Faith had rolled on her side to better admire Buffy's ass while she was putting some leftover junk on top of her wardrobe.

"Sure. What room did she say they were in again?" Willow had gone up already to straighten her room out some more.

"320. Right at the end of the hall"

"Right let's go then." Buffy walked over to the door while Faith jumped off of the bed and followed her.

"I still can't believe I got you as a roommate" Buffy said cheerfully as they walked up the hall.

"You probably shouldn't rub that in Willow's face too much B. She seemed bummed out about it. I'm sure she would've preferred being your roommate."

"Yeah I know. But she's just shy around new people. She'll get over it."

"And what about you? Wouldn't you rather have Willow as a roommate?"

"Hm. I dunno." She looked up at the rather dirty ceiling in thought, "I guess I'm more used to having her around... but I think it'll be really fun sharing a room with you! And besides, you were right earlier, I would just be in her way with all the slaying duties."

Faith felt even more elated at Buffy's words. Buffy thought it would be fun sharing with her! And she didn't seem to mind that she didn't end up with Willow. Faith had no doubt that this would be a great year. She was going to have to thank Giles again for paying her college fees.


	3. Chapter 3

It was easy to find Will's room what with the giant alchemical circle drawn on the door in chalk.

"You think that was Willow's idea?" Faith asked frowning at the circle.

"Probably." Buffy sighed, "A nice poster was probably too normal for her."

"Oh like that nice poster about chocolate that you put up?."

"Oh shut up. It was the most neutral thing I had. Nobody dislikes chocolate except you."

"What can I say? I never had much of a sweet tooth. Now if you had put up a poster about burgers..."

Buffy ignored her and knocked.

The door opened and Willow appeared. She seemed really happy to see them and beckoned them in excitedly.

Willow's room was more or less the same as theirs and was doused in a soft red light filtering through the drawn curtains. One part of the room was rather serious and dull looking and the other part was decorated with all kinds of unusual foreign objects,candles and books, Faith also noticed a beanbag at the end of the bed. She didn't however, notice the girl sitting on the sheets of the bed until Willow pointed her out.

"Guys, this is Tara. Tara this is my best friend Buffy and eh..." she didn't seem to know how to address Faith so she finished rather lamely with: "t-this is her roommate Faith."

Faith didn't mind that Willow hadn't referred to her as a friend. She knew the redhead hadn't quite warmed up to her yet.

Buffy smiled and waved at the girl on the sheets. She was kind of plain looking with her mousy blonde hair and pale skin and she was wearing baggy clothes which made her seem chubbier than she probably was. She was sitting on the bed hugging her own legs.

Tara peered shyly at them over her knees and managed a very quiet "h-hello".

"Nice to meet you Tara." Buffy smiled encouragingly again and gestured at some colorful objects and what seemed to be Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling. "I like what you've done with your room. It's very cozy looking."

Tara didn't answer, she simply flushed and gave a noncommittal jerk of the head.

The silence seemed to stretch on forever and Faith now understood why Willow had been so happy to see them. She too probably hadn't gotten as much as a word out of Tara before they arrived. Though Faith didn't think they had much more of a chance with the three of them together as Tara seemed to be getting more nervous by the second. The poor girl was now picking at her sleeves so badly they started to fray.

Buffy didn't give up however. She sauntered past one of the many bookshelves and traced a finger over the leather-bound books. "I see you like reading. I'm not a big fan of books myself, too much trouble, but Willow loves them. I bet you'll get on great with her." She looked hopefully in the direction of Tara but didn't get a reply.

She pulled out one of the books, opened it and let her eyes wander over the pages. "Well, this looks interesting." Faith tried not to laugh, Buffy finding a book interesting was almost as silly as the idea of Giles joining the circus. "Are you a big fan of erm..." Buffy looked more closely to see what kind of book she was holding but before she could do so Tara had jumped of the bed and taken the book away from her. "P-please don't t-t-touch that."

She held the book tightly to her chest and looked down at her own shoelaces.

"Oh eh sorry" Buffy said, momentarily stumped "I didn't mean..."

So she even had a stutter... Faith stared at Tara and couldn't help but think that she wasn't someone who got out much. She was roused from her thoughts when Buffy gave her a nudge with her elbow. She realized Buffy wanted her to do something about the awkward atmosphere in the room but she really didn't think she could help much. So she decided to help her own grumbling stomach instead.

"I'm starving, let's go get some food."

"Sounds good." Willow said smiling, she looked at Tara. "You wanna come with?"

But Tara didn't join them and Faith suspected she wasn't the only one who was a little relieved.

"She's not a bad person." Willow said once they were outside "She's just a little..."

"Shy" Faith helped. "yeah we noticed."

"She'll get used to you soon enough Wills, don't worry." Buffy said cheerily "I'm sure you'll be great friends."

Faith was certain Buffy only said that to cheer Willow up but Tara definitely seemed like a better match for Willow than some loud girl who loved to party.


	4. Chapter 4

After they had had dinner in the university's cafeteria, the 3 of them went back to Buffy and Faith's new dorm room where Faith flopped onto her bed to read a magazine while Willow and Buffy talked excitedly about the classes they were going to take.

Faith was trying to read a mindless article about some rock star. But the other girls' chattering was awfully distracting. She had to read the same line about three times before it got through to her. She seemed to have lots of trouble getting the letters into focus, maybe if she closed her eyes for a second...

"Faith?"

Apparently Buffy had asked something but Faith who had been snoozing under her magazine hadn't heard the question. "Whaddyasay B?" Faith asked drowsily.

"I asked what subjects you were thinking of taking." She and Willow looked at her expectantly.

Faith hadn't really given that problem much thought, she had been planning to just tag along with Buffy for the most part. She only realized just now how stupid that would sound, so she just said: "I haven't really decided yet."

"I bet you anything you haven't even looked at the programs yet."

Smart cookie that Buffy.

"Here have a look now then." She tossed Faith a rather thick brochure.

Faith sat up on her elbows and leafed through it while Buffy and Willow continued to discuss some of the possible choices.

"And did you find something?" Buffy asked after a while.

"Well, there's not a lot in here that could be useful to people that pursue a career in slaying..."

"oh haha"

"But this one might be cool."

Buffy seemed surprised "Really? What is it?"

"Ancient mythology, maybe they can show us new creepers to slay."

Buffy looked skeptical "I don't think they'll know anything about real demons. Do you?"

"Then what about this one: The truth behind myths. Same dude teaches it."

Buffy still didn't look convinced but Willow seemed sufficiently interested, "Maybe it could be useful. You never know. Maybe this professor actually knows stuff about real evil! It's not unheard of, we've met lots of people who know what's really out there. Anything else?"

"Nothing like that no... I don't really know what else I'll take" She let out a heavy sigh, "Maybe I'll do world history..."

"History?" Buffy repeated with a look of disgust on her face. "You want to study history?"

Faith knew Buffy didn't like history very much, she had seen her struggle with it in high school, and it was part of the reason she wanted to do it. She had to take one class Buffy absolutely wouldn't take so that she had at least one class she didn't fail because she had spent more time trying to look down Buffy's shirt instead of paying attention.

"Yeah, I don't mind it. It can be cool sometimes. Wars and such." It wasn't a complete lie, she had liked some of the history classes in high school.

"Why don't you just take psychology with me and Willow?"

Faith laughed at that. "No thanks B. Not my thing."

Buffy and Faith had some trouble getting Willow to go back to her own room that night. Only after Buffy had assured her they would meet up first thing in the morning she left. It had been a long and exhausting day so as soon as Willow had gone, Faith stripped down to her panties and climbed under the covers.

Buffy took a while longer to get ready for bed. Faith heard her walk around the room as she lay with her eyes closed.

"Faith?" she asked in a whisper. But Faith didn't respond and pretended to be asleep.

When she opened her eyes a little bit she saw Buffy standing at the end of her own bed changing out of her clothes. The room was dark except for some light coming from outside through a small crack in between the curtains. Faith held her breath and watched her fellow slayer virtually naked in the moonlight.

Buffy's skin seemed to light up silver in the darkness. The petite slayer was wearing nothing but her panties. Faith dared to open her eyes a little wider and took in the sight not quite believing how he could be so lucky. Just as she was admiring Buffy's perky breasts, the blonde slipped beneath the covers and disappeared from Faith's view.

Faith had to bite her lip to avoid swearing out loud. If only she could have looked for a few more seconds.

She turned on her side comforting herself with the thought that she would get another chance to see Buffy naked. They were roommates after all. She smiled to herself and tried to get to sleep.

…

Unfortunately, getting to sleep was proving to be rather hard after seeing Buffy like that. An insistent throbbing had started between her legs and it was very hard to ignore what with a barely dressed Buffy sleeping just a few feet away.

Faith lifted her head and listened intently to Buffy's deep slow breathing. Faith felt certain she had to be asleep. Maybe she could take care of her little problem without Buffy waking up?

Faith tentatively slid her hand down under the covers, over her bare stomach before it tripped over the fabric of her panties and reached its destination. She lightly stroked over the cotton material and her breath hitched.

She started rubbing more confidently now, being careful not to make too much noise.

She felt a bit dirty, touching herself with Buffy sleeping so innocently right next to her, so she decided to have her imagination help her out a bit.

She thought back of how Buffy had looked, almost naked, in the moonlight. If only she hadn't been wearing those panties...

In her imagination, she stepped up to Buffy, as close as she could without touching. She looked into those pale eyes and saw nothing but her own lust mirrored there. She closed the gap between them and kissed Buffy deeply, running her hands down her soft silvery skin. She broke the kiss, gasping for air, and looked down at her breasts. Her nipples were erect...

Faith slid her fingers into her own panties, momentarily amazed by how wet she was. Even an imaginary Buffy could make her wetter than any man had ever done. She let out an almost inaudible moan when she slid one of her fingers inside herself trying to imagine it was Buffy's.

Back in her fantasy her mouth watered at the sight of Buffy's tits. She wanted to suck on those pink little nipples... but Buffy would never let her, would she? She looked up questioningly into Buffy's face. Her lips were curled up in a naughty very unbuffy-like grin and she whispered "You can do anything you like Faith. I'm your naughty little girl."

Faith slid another finger inside herself. She was so close...

The real Buffy unfortunately let out a loud snore at that exact moment and tossed around in her bed. Faith immediately whipped her hand out of her underwear and tried to lay as still as she could.

Buffy however quickly resumed her slow deep breathing and seemed not to have woken up.

Faith felt slightly ashamed of what she had imagined and was immensely thankful that Buffy couldn't read minds anymore.

No matter how frustrated and uncomfortable she felt, she didn't dare do anything about it for now. It was going to be a long night she thought ruefully as she plucked at her sticky underwear.


	5. Chapter 5

"-aith...-ake up..."

She felt a sharp jab in her side. Someone was poking her rather roughly. She flung one hand out to try and chase away whoever it was and heard a cry of pain.

"Goddammit Faith! Why'd you slap me?" She felt a fist land hard on her right leg. Faith curled up in a ball and groaned in pain. She didn't open her eyes however.

"Are you still sleeping? Wake up already!"

"No... Lemme sleep... five more minutes... or ten... whatever..."

"You said that an hour ago! You have to get up NOW! I've already showered, had breakfast and everything. We need to leave soon or we'll be late for orientation! And we still need to inscribe for classes and get our books after that! So get your ass out of bed or I'll punch you again!"

It took her a while before she realized that the person screaming at her was Buffy. It slowly came back to her now. They were roommates. She was at college. And she had a lot of shit to get through today. Crap.

She sat up in her bed as quickly as she could and tried to open her eyes. Rays of bright light fell into the room through the open curtains and seemed to set her eyes and brain on fire. Maybe this is what it was like being a vampire caught in the sunlight...

"Sheesh Faith! Cover up a little!"

She had forgotten she wasn't wearing much. The covers must have slid of her when she had sat up. She looked at Buffy through her still streaming eyes trying to read her expression. But Buffy had already turned away looking embarrassed.

"Why would I wanna do that B?" she asked grinning "I've got nothing to be ashamed of." She sat back a little again, as if to put herself better on display. But Buffy didn't spare her another look. Instead she started grabbing her stuff together, getting ready to leave.

"Good for you F. Just get dressed, we were supposed to meet Willow 10 minutes ago!"

"You go on ahead... I'll catch up with you guys later."

"You sure?" Buffy said without looking up.

"Yeah, I'm a big girl. You should worry more about that nervous little redhead of yours."

Buffy threw her a quick grin, flushed bright red and ran for the door. "See you later then!"

Faith smirked at the now closed door. She was quite pleased to have made Buffy blush. She let herself fall back to the bed with a sigh. She didn't feel rested at all, hopefully she was going to get a little more sleep the following night.

Maybe she could skip orientation? She grabbed her watch from her night table. She was probably going to miss it anyway, she should just get ready and try to get all of her other chores done.

She rolled out of bed, put on her flip-flops, grabbed a new fluffy towel and made her way to the shared bathrooms.

Standing under the hot stream of water seemed to clear her head a bit. She washed herself thoroughly and felt her tight muscles relax under the pounding water. It never did Faith much good being sexually frustrated... Maybe she should have another go at it under the shower?

Before she could make up her mind however she noticed a big ball of human hair lying in the corner of the shower. This grossed her out so much that any other thought was driven from her head and she ran from the showers as fast as she could.

Back in the room she put on her least conspicuous outfit (she didn't want to stand out too much on her first day) and pulled open the fridge she and Buffy shared. She had completely forgotten to bring any food for herself though.

She shrugged and helped herself to some of Buffy's cereal and milk..

She quickly brushed her teeth, put on some light make-up and dashed out the door with just her wallet in an old canvas shoulder bag.

…

She crammed herself inside the tiny bookstore that was already chock-full of students. Grumbling she made her way through the mass of people to the nearest book case and looked down at the list of books she had received earlier while inscribing for her courses.

She grabbed the books she needed as fast as she could. She had never liked crowds so she wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. Just as she was about to ask one of the shopkeepers where she could find the last book on her list she caught a glimpse of red hair through the crowd.

She pushed her way towards the other end of the store, receiving many scowls and grumbling from her fellow students.

"What up bitches?" She said as she shoved some frat boy roughly out of the way and into a bookcase.

"Y-you should be more careful Faith..." Willow said with her eyes on the now furious frat boy making a rude hand gesture at a completely unimpressed Faith. "You'll make more enemies than you can handle."

"Don't worry red." Faith winked "I'm the vision of perfection. I can handle anything." she flexed and kissed her muscles to add to the joke.

Buffy laughed but Willow looked reproachful.

Faith quickly changed the subject before Willow could complain any further. "So... how have you ladies been doing so far? Good times?"

Willow's face lit up immediately "Yeah it's great! There's so much to be learned! The library is huge! And there's so many great people with great causes!" She grabbed a stack of colorful flyers out from under her books and waved them in front of Faith's face.

"Good to see you are excited Red." She said pushing back the flyers. "If I had known you liked these I would've kept mine as a present instead of throwing them to the ground."

Willow looked as if she was about to lecture Faith about littering but was interrupted by Buffy: "We met the teaching assistant for intro to psych a few minutes ago... He was quite cute..."

Faith's stomach twisted uncomfortably at these words.

"... I messed it up completely though... dropped books on his head... stupid..." she fiddles nervously with her hair while Willow cast her a sympathetic look.

Faith stomach relaxed again as she patted Buffy on the shoulder. "Plenty of cute guys to go around B. Patience my blonde clumsy friend, patience. Wasn't there's a party tonight?"

"Yeah... but I promised Giles we would patrol regularly. And we didn't go yesterday so..."

"Oh well, we have the whole year ahead of us. Plenty of time to get drunk out of our minds." Willow shot her another reproachful look so she quickly asked if any of them knew where she could find the last book on her list.

They exited the book store with their arms full of heavy books. Faith dumped hers unceremoniously into her old canvas bag with her now empty wallet. "I was really hoping I would have some leftover money." she said sadly "It felt nice having some money in my wallet for once."

She wished she hadn't said anything, her friends were now throwing her odd looks full of pity. She felt her cheeks grow hot and turned away quickly so they wouldn't notice. Luckily an Oz-shaped distraction arrived. She really liked Oz, he was always so relaxed, very different from the rest of the Scooby gang.

Oz kissed his girlfriend and the three of them started talking about college life while Faith hang back a bit to get an eyeful of Buffy's legs. She was dressed in a sundress again. She sometimes wished Buffy would wear outfits that were a bit less... innocent.

They started walking again, Willow and Oz up front while she and Buffy followed. Faith looked sideways at Buffy and noticed she seemed a bit put out. "What's up with you?"

Buffy looked up at her and smiled sadly "It's all so overwhelming... college... at least it is to me. I- I haven't even got a clue what I want to study. I haven't got my student ID yet... And I get lost all the time! But everyone else seems to be doing just fine. "

"You really believe that?" Faith said incredulously and started laughing"I'm just as lost as you are B! I didn't even know we were supposed to have an ID card! And as for classes... well... I've been picking those by going 'Eeny, meeny, miny, moe'." She smiled sheepishly "Just don't mind Red. She's been planning this ever since she escaped from her mother's womb!"

Buffy managed a small laugh.

"We'll figure this out together B. You'll see." She felt a bit silly after saying that so she tried to focus on what was in front of her.

Even though she felt her motivational speech hadn't been too great for her tough-girl image, Buffy seemed to have enjoyed it. At least that would explain why she stuck to Faith like glue for the rest of the day.

…

Back in their room, Faith picked up one of her mythology books and leafed through it on her bed while Buffy got ready for their patrol that night.

For the first time in her life she wished she could skip the slaying and just go to bed. She was so goddamn tired.

She was just looking at a drawing of a particularly ugly monster in her book when Buffy asked: "Faith? Did you drink all of my milk?".

Faith made a face behind her book. She didn't want to damage Buffy's newly found fondness of her by admitting to stealing her food.

"No"

"What do you mean 'no'? Who else could've drank it? You were the only one here!"

"It wasn't me." she said looking past her book "It couldn't have been me. I'm lactose-intolerant."

"oh" Buffy's anger disappeared instantly and was replaced with confusion. "I never knew that about you. I'm sorry. I just assumed..."

"That's ok" Faith disappeared behind her book again relieved she got away with it so easily. Being able to lie through your teeth was useful from time to time.

Faith continued to look at bizarre pictures for a while longer. She had just been about to clamp the book shut when it was violently pushed down onto her face.

"Ouch!" She pushed the book of her face and got up rubbing her sore nose angrily. "What the fuck do-"

"You lied!" Buffy interrupted "You're not lactose-intolerant! I saw you have pizza with extra cheese earlier!"

"Oh... eh..." She smiled apolitically "Sorry?"

Buffy chased her about the room smacking her round the head with her own book. They kept on fighting playfully, laughing, until Faith accidentally kicked the door of her own wardrobe in.


	6. Chapter 6

Faith was lying in her bed staring at the ceiling, wide awake.

She knew she should have let Buffy take the kill earlier that night. But her instincts had gotten the better of her and she had staked the blood-sucking bastard before he could even register fear.

They had been planning to patrol in a cemetery close by but had ended up finding two vampires on the campus itself. The one that Faith didn't stake managed to get away, probably off to some nest in the area. They would have to go look for it some other time.

The problem was that she always got so fucking horny after slaying. Her sexual frustration had now reached a max and she couldn't take it anymore. The whole room seemed filled with Buffy's scent and it was driving her up the walls.

She looked sideways at the other bed in the room. Its occupant sound asleep, completely unaware that her roommate was about ready to jump her.

Buffy had never once admitted to getting horny after slaying... it was possible she never had that problem. Maybe it was strictly a Faith thing...

She had never been afraid to admit that she liked having sex, but lately, that part of herself bothered her. It was mostly because she didn't want Buffy to think she was a complete slut. She had seen Buffy's face whenever she had found out Faith had had another round of meaningless sex with some stranger. Always judging her. Looking down on her.

She sighed and tossed around in her bed some more. She was certain Buffy was less innocent than she let on. She had to have urges too. Maybe not quite as much as Faith but still...

She hoped that maybe, under the influence of alcohol, Buffy would drop the holier-than-thou attitude and live a little.

…

Buffy's alarm went off at the other side of the room. Faith sighed. She hadn't slept all night. How long was she going to be able to keep this up? She should have known being Buffy's roommate had to have a downside.

She sat up and rubbed her burning eyes.

"Oh? Up already?" Buffy said as she walked passed "It took you almost an hour yesterday..."

It's pretty easy to get out of bed if you never went to sleep in the first place, Faith thought sadly.

…

"Did you see that ball of hair in the third shower?" Buffy asked with a look of disgust on her face while they were walking side by side to class later that morning. Willow had already gone ahead without them.

"Yeah we were formally introduced yesterday" Faith replied "That's why I kept my flip-flops on in the shower today."

"I think I actually saw it move... Maybe we should try slaying it. Just in case."

"You do that. I'm not getting near that thing."

They continued their talk about the horrors of shared bathrooms until Faith realized she didn't recognize any of the buildings around her.

"Wait a second... How did we get here?" Faith said looking around.

"How should I know? I was following you!"

"And I was following you... Where are we even?"

They quarreled the whole way back about who should have been following who and eventually had to ask someone for directions.

They had to run to be in time for their respective classes and said goodbye in a hurry. Buffy left for pop culture and Faith for world history.

She had only just sat down in the back when the professor, a rather stern looking lady with short gray hair, started talking. It was mostly just about what they were going to study that year and what the exams would be like.

Faith sank a bit lower in her chair and yawned widely. Trying to stay awake today was going to be a living hell.

She looked at her watch every so often but time seemed to be moving slower on purpose.

Her eyes itched and burned with sleep and her head seemed to be filled with lead. She closed her eyes for a second, hoping it would stop the burning feeling, but nodded off instantly.

She tried to shake herself awake and pay attention but it was no use. The professor's voice trailed away and Faith's eyes slid closed.

"I see you find my lecture fascinating."

Faith woke up with a start and found herself staring straight into the professor's face. Several people laughed.

Faith smiled sheepishly: "Very". More people started laughing.

"Rough night I bet?" said the professor with a sympathetic smile "Too much partying?"

"I wish." Faith blurted out before she could help it.

The professor's eyebrows rose so high they almost disappeared under her short hair. "Then what have you been doing at night instead of sleeping?"

"I had... work. To pay my college fees."

"I see... Well, you're not doing anyone a favor by being here if you're just going to nod off every two seconds. You should go home."

"Am... Am I being kicked out of the class?" She asked.

"No, don't worry. I'm letting you off easy this time. Just make sure you are better rested next week. And make sure you copy someone's notes for this week. Off you go then. Get some sleep."

"Right. Thanks." she started shoving her book in her bag.

"I think you mean to say 'thank you professor Davies'."

"T-thank you professor Davies." she swung her bag over her shoulder and left the room.

She quickly walked down the hallway relieved that she got away so easily and ran straight into an extremely depressed looking Buffy.

"Hey B, why are you not at to pop culture?"

"I got kicked out for talking during class... The professor even told me that I sucked. Or at least that's what I think he said..."

Faith hissed "That's gotta sting."

"Did you get kicked out too?" she sounded almost hopeful.

"Well... sort of. I got caught sleeping and was told to leave. But I'm allowed to come back next week."

"Well, that's good isn't it?" She said with a small smile "Want to kill some time together?"

The only thing Faith wanted was to go to sleep, but Buffy looked as if she needed some company so she stayed with her instead.

...

Faith did find time for a quick nap in the library while Buffy, Willow and Oz had psychology later that day. After that she joined them again for "The Truth behind Myths".

The class was held in a small and rather dark room in one of the older building on campus. It was obvious that this class never drew a large crowd.

A portly man dressed in tweed walked in holding a large stack of books. He dropped the books heavily on the front desk and seemed a little out of breath.

He looked around the room dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. He had a thick graying beard and a bald spot shone on the top of his head.

"There's so many of you this year!" He said smiling brightly.

Faith looked around the room again, as did several other people, but there couldn't be much more than 20 people in the room.

"Welcome everyone!" He said beaming "My name is Professor Bacchus and I specialize in myths and legends."

"Those of you who have come here looking for someone to help them prove the existence of the Loch Ness monster or vampires are at the wrong address..."

Buffy and Willow exchanged a look and some goth students left the room with a sour face. But the professor continued as if he hadn't noticed anything.

"...in this class we will be discussing the origins of some myths and how they differ in other cultures. For example, one of the things we will be discussing quite a lot this year are werewolves..."

Oz gave a start and Willow looked uncomfortable.

"...Many people believe that werewolf stories were used to explain serial killings, while others believe that they just originated from the irrational fear of wolves in Europe, this would explain why similar myths exist about hyenas in Africa and Tigers in India. Can anyone else think of a myth that has found it's origin in very natural circumstances? Yes?"

Faith was just as surprised as anybody else to find she had raised her hand.

"eh... I always heard that sailors who had been gone from home for too long thought they saw mermaids when they actually saw manatees."

"Very good! That is indeed a generally accepted theory. Did you read that somewhere Miss ...?"

"Faith. Faith Lehane. Actually it was my grandmother who told me that."

"Faith Lehane! A beautiful name for a beautiful girl! I'll be sure to remember it." He winked and smiled broadly at her before he continued his lecture.

Buffy leaned in, her lips almost touching Faith's ear as she whispered: "I think he likes you Miss Lehane."

Faith felt goosebumps erupt up her neck that had nothing to do with the fear that their old professor might've taken a fancy to her...


	7. Chapter 7

"Where did they get all that crap?"

She and Buffy were looking through the windows on the roof of an abandoned frat house. They had to squeeze close together so that the both of them could get a good look of what was going on down below. Faith felt her skin tingle wherever Buffy touched against her.

"I think they may have looted it from the students they attacked. Make it seem as if they left on their own accord. Willow has been looking into it. Apparently a lot of students have gone missing like this in the past few years... "

"Clever bastards these vamps." And she meant it. They had been able to raise a small army smack in the middle of the perfect hunting ground without drawing any attention to themselves. At least until now. She smiled viciously as she leered down at her prey below.

She just wished she was a little less tired right now... She hadn't been sleeping for over two nights now and she was beginning to feel the strain.

She looked at her watch. Dawn was approaching fast, so they had better get this over with quickly if she still wanted to try and get some sleep.

"Come on blondie, Let's get these bastards." She slid down the roof gracefully and landed on the ground below without a sound.

Buffy followed but landed a little less gracefully, she had to grab Faith by the arm to prevent herself from falling over.

Faith marched over to the door ready to kick ass but Buffy stopped her, "Shouldn't we get some more supplies? There's at least fifteen vamps in there."

But Faith didn't want to go back for more supplies. The sooner this was over, the better.

"You've got to live more on the edge B, life ain't fun without risks." She looked back over her shoulder at Buffy "You did it once before last year. Did you forget how much fun we had back then?"

"No, I didn't forget. It was really fun." Buffy's eyes seemed to light up at the memory "But we came pretty close to dying... several times."

"But we never actually died did we?" said Faith as if she was trying to explain to a toddler why 1+1 equals two. "So... Shall we?"

Buffy hesitated for a moment longer, then simply shrugged and took up her position beside Faith at the door.

Faith threw a quick sideways glance at her fellow slayer, "Ready?" Buffy nodded "Ok then.. one... two... THREE!". They kicked the door open simultaneously and charged inside, stakes at the ready.

The vampires who had been going through their latest victim's belongings were so surprised they didn't put up much of a fight. The first one Faith staked just stood there holding on to his loot while he turned to dust.

After the initial surprise was over though, panic broke out among them and they scurried of in all directions like overgrown vermin.

"B! Guard the exit! Make sure none of them get away!" she screamed over her shoulder as she repeatedly pounded her fist into the face of a particularly large vamp that tried to put up a fight.

She had just dusted her opponent when three more vampires burst into the room from the back. She immediately recognized the middle one, a young blonde thing, as the leader of the nest.

She charged forwards, dove under the leader's arms and quickly dusted her right bodyguard.

She spun round on one foot, ready to strike again but she got caught full in the face by a ferocious kick from the bitch in charge.

She flew straight into the wall behind her with such force that it crumbled. Faith's head seemed to split open when it made contact with the wall and white flashes of light erupted in front of her eyes.

The blonde vampire let out an insane laugh while her partner stalked off to go help the remaining vamps deal with Buffy.

Faith cursed herself. Under normal circumstances she would have easily evaded a kick like that. As her vision cleared a little she saw Buffy by exit, surrounded by 5 vampires.

She had to deal with this bitch quick so she could aid Buffy.

Her stake had gotten lost somewhere in the rubble of the wall so she pulled out her knife and jumped to her feet.

She ran a few steps towards the confident looking vampire, her knife at the ready, but halfway there the floor suddenly seemed to shift from under her feet, as if she had been standing sideways on a moving treadmill.

She hit the floor with a resounding thud, the blonde vampire's malicious laugh echoing in her ears.

Something hot and wet was trickling down the side of her face, she tried desperately to get up again but her head felt ten times heavier than usual.

The floor seemed to be swaying up and down, as if she was lying on a ship. And the room steadily grew darker.

The last thing she saw was the blonde vampire moving in on her and then everything went black...

…

"-aith! Faith! Wake up! Please!"

Someone was trying to shake her awake.

She groaned "No... Lemme sleep som'more..."

"Oh thank god you're alive... listen Faith, you aren't sleeping! You hurt your head and passed out!"

She opened her eyes with a start and tried to get up. "The vamps! Did you..?"

"Don't worry. They're dust."

Faith settled back down feeling ashamed about putting up such a poor fight.

"I'm sorry B. I should've helped you." she sighed.

"It's fine. Lying bleeding on the floor is a pretty good excuse." she smiled faintly and kept sitting on her knees beside Faith. "How's your head?" she added.

Faith felt around the back of her head, it was still throbbing and sticky with blood but seemed fine otherwise. "Sore but I think I'll heal. How about you?" she motioned at the nasty gash on Buffy's forehead.

"Just a cut. Nothing too serious." Buffy kept looking worried at Faith "How come you went down so fast? That's not like you..."

"I-" She hesitated, but decided to tell the truth anyway "I'm just tired... I haven't been sleeping lately..."

"Is it my fault?" Buffy asked with an anxious look in her eyes.

"Huh?" Faith momentarily panicked. Had Buffy figured it out? "Why would you say that?"

"I-I don't snore do I?"

Faith laughed in relief "No, that's not it. It's just... college and such... It's been stressful."

Buffy looked surprised "Really? I never would've guessed it got to you so much..."

Faith merely shrugged.

"I'm really sorry Faith. I should've noticed something was wrong..."

"You couldn't have known B." Faith said shaking her head "I should just be thankful that you saved my ass tonight..."

Faith was so exhausted she couldn't utter another word.

They walked back to the dorm in silence. Faith who still had trouble keeping her balance had her arm around Buffy's shoulder the whole way.

As soon as Faith's head hit the pillow she was out like a light. She didn't even notice that Buffy stood there watching her for a while before getting to bed herself.


	8. Chapter 8

When Faith woke up the next day, Buffy had already left for class. Apparently she had thought Faith could use the extra sleep and Faith was thankful she had let her sleep.

She got out of bed at noon and lazily made her way to the showers. It was about time that she washed the dry blood and grime out of her hair. When she got back she just changed the bed sheets and crawled back in with her plush cat Merlin.

Merlin was one of Faith's well kept secrets. One of those things that belonged just to her and no-one else. Besides, people would just laugh at her if they knew. Big bad Faith sleeping with a plush kitty in her bed? It wouldn't do her reputation much good. So she had kept him hidden in the back of her closet until now.

Merlin seemed to look at her accusingly with his blue button eyes and his ears all crumpled. "Don't worry" She squeezed him tightly against her chest "I still love you."

It may have seemed a little weird, for her to talk to an inanimate object like that, but she had done it a lot as a kid. Back then, Merlin had often seemed like her only friend in the world.

Curled up under the blankets with Merlin pressed to her chest, it didn't take long for Faith to fall back asleep.

…

"Faith?" Someone lightly touched her on the shoulder.

"Hmmm... Buffy..." she moaned.

"eh... no... It's me. Giles."

Faith instantly sat up straight, her face feeling rather hot. She hadn't said Buffy's name thinking it was her who was trying to wake her. She had just been having a particularly nice dream in which she and Buffy and been kissing, curled up together in a bed with crisp white sheets.

Giles was sitting on the side of her bed, now staring at something that was sitting in Faith's lap, Merlin.

Faith quickly hid he ragged cat doll under the covers again with a red face. "So... what's up G-man?" she tried to sound as nonchalant as she could given the circumstances. She was thankful that she had at least taken the time to put on pajamas today.

Giles looked back up at her face and quickly changed his look of surprise into one of concern. "Buffy called me. She told me about what happened during yesterday's patrol. I just thought I'd check if you're OK..."

"She shouldn't have bothered you with that Giles... I'm Great. Just catching up on some sleep."

"Yeah... she told me you had some trouble sleeping too..."

"Not anymore." she made reassuring gesture "It's already a thing of the past." And she really believed that. The sex thing seemed to be just like any other bad habit. The first two or three days without were an absolute hell, but once you were past that... smooth sailing.

Giles still looked concerned though "Are you eating enough Faith? You look a lot thinner then when I last saw you."

She grinned, "Sure I have Giles. You know me. I eat whenever I can." this was another blatant lie, after having bought her books she didn't have much more money for food. She had been planning to get a job but hadn't found time for it yet.

Giles sighed "I know you're lying Faith. I'm not stupid. I thought I told you to let me know when you were low on cash." at this he got his wallet out and Faith got immensely embarrassed.

"You don't have to give me any more money Giles! You already payed for my college fees and books, I can't ask for more. Especially now you're out of a job. I'll get some money on my own, I'm used to it anyways." she pushed back the cash Giles was trying to give her.

"I insist Faith. You already have enough on your plate as it is." he put the money on her bedside table instead "And I'm not poor you know. I have quite a bit of savings."

Faith wanted to protest further but Giles continued "That money should keep you going for about two weeks I think. I'll open an account in your name tomorrow and put some money on it every month, enough to live of and maybe to even have some fun with." He looked round the room "I'll put on a little extra this month so you can buy some new clothes and maybe some stuff for your room..."

"Giles, you don't have to do this... I could just get a job..."

"You already have a job to do Faith. Slaying vampires. You don't have to get another one." He gave her a strange look "You should understand Faith... I have never had any kids of my own. So I sort of came to think of you and Buffy as my daughters... I would like nothing better than to help you two in any way that I can."

They looked at each other for a little while. Faith was touched and felt a lump form in the back of her throat.

"Thanks Giles." She said rather hoarsely. She wanted to say something more but she couldn't think of anything.

He didn't seem to mind however. He just smiled at her and grabbed a paper bag that had been standing at his feet. "I got you some take-out too. You must be hungry right?"

Faith's stomach grumbled loudly in reply. She eagerly ripped open the bag and started taking out the plastic and cardboard boxes containing the food. "Thanks man! I love Chinese food! You wanna share some?"

Giles got up from the bed still smiling "No, I think you need it more than I do. Besides I have some business to attend to. I'll come visit you girls again soon. And feel free to call me whenever you need me."

"I will" She said with a mouth full of noodles

Giles was almost at the door when she thought of something "How did you know I wasn't eating right?"

Giles looked back at her with his hand on the doorknob "Buffy told me. She's very worried about you, you know."

…

Faith was still stuffing her face with noodles when Buffy, Willow and Oz entered followed by...

"Xander? When did you get back? How was the road trip?" Faith was rather fond of Xander. He had been the most sympathetic towards her when she first arrived in Sunnydale and she had never forgotten that. Sure he had been a bit awkward after she had... used him. But they were OK now.

"Hiya there Faith. Having breakfast in bed I see? Or rather," he checked his Tweety watch "Late dinner in bed. I like your style miss Lehane."

"I guess B's been telling you about professor Bacchus." she said slightly disgruntled.

"She has indeed. But I was mostly just intrigued by the fact that we hadn't bothered to ask your last name until now. Lehane... is that French?"

"Irish actually."

"You learn something new every day." he said with a dreamy smile.

"You never answered my question though. How was the trip?"

Faith finished her meal while they all listened to Xander's amusing story of how his great cross-country road trip quickly became a total disaster.

Faith sat back in her bed, still chuckling at Xander's mishaps. She couldn't remember ever being happier than right now. She had a full stomach, a roof over her head and was surrounded by friends. She even had someone who looked after her as if he were her father. And to top it all of, Buffy had been worried about her. Faith didn't read into it too deeply of course, she was just happy that Buffy cared more for her than she let on.

"How about we all go to a party tonight?" She suggested rather out of the blue.

"Are you sure you're up yo that" Buffy asked eying her incredulously.

"Of course I am B!" She jumped up and down in her bed to prove her point "We're in college now for fuck's sake and we haven't gone to a single party yet. We're a disgrace!"

"There's a party at Kresge Hall tonight." Oz helpfully added "I'll be playing there with the band tonight."

"Alright. It's decided then! We'll leave at ten." Faith said with a big grin as she got out of bed and walked to her closet to find some clothes to wear to the party.


	9. Chapter 9

Oz's band was playing in the far corner of the room on a small stage with Willow, loyal as ever, looking on. Buffy was standing close by and Xander had already strayed of after some girl.

The party wasn't really in full swing yet.

Faith had told Buffy and Willow to wait there while she was going to fetch some drinks. She was dying to find out what Buffy would be like with some alcohol pumping through her veins. Would she finally drop the sweet innocent cheerleader act?

Faith had only once seen Buffy truly let go, and it was the best fun she'd ever had. Unfortunately Faith had gotten the both of them nearly arrested that night and ever since then Buffy had been on her guard around Faith again.

She really hoped that Buffy would give her another chance and let go once more. Maybe alcohol would help convince her to do just that. After all Faith had learned her lesson, this time she would keep things strictly legal... or at least try to.

Maybe she could convince a drunk Buffy to do a little college experimenting with her? She smiled deviously at the though.

She returned laden with bottles of lukewarm beer and nearly dropped all of them when she saw that Buffy was animatedly talking to some guy. She could tell from miles away when Buffy was flirting and this was it.

Faith dumped most of the beers into a surprised Willow's arms and strode over to Buffy.

"Here B, have a beer." She pushed the beer into Buffy's hands and rudely stared at the loser who had been chatting her up.

"eh... Hi, I'm Parker." He held out a hand that Faith didn't take.

"Hi, nice to meet you." she said with a fake sweetness in her voice "I'm sorry but we're having a bit of a girl's night out here." She gestured at Willow, who had serious trouble holding on to all of the beers, and a furious looking Buffy. "I'm sure you understand."

"I... Yes of course.." he smiled apologetically "I'll leave you girls to it then. Me and Buffy can meet up some other time. Right?" He looked enquiringly at a still fuming Buffy.

She snapped out of it quickly and replied "Yeah, I would like that."

"See you soon then." he smiled once more before turning his back on the group.

Buffy looked longingly at Parker's retreating back before she snapped at Faith "What the hell was that all about? Girl's night out? Yeah right! I dare bet anything that you'll leave before any of us with some random guy!"

"No I won't." Faith said feeling hurt "I honestly want to spend time with just you guys!"

"Then what the hell is Xander doing here if it's a _girl's_ night out?"

Xander, who was standing in the crowd not so far away from them, spun around looking confused as if he wasn't quite sure if he'd heard his name being called out.

"I consider him as being one of the girls." Faith said shrugging.

"Really?" said Buffy, now looking more intrigued than angry "I thought you kinda liked Xander?"

Faith who had just been taking a sip of beer nearly choked "What the hell gave you that idea?" she croaked while she wiped her mouth clean with the back of her hand.

"well... h-he told me that you guys... you know..." She suddenly looked a bit shy.

"Had sex?" She was slightly amused at how flustered Buffy had suddenly gotten "Yeah we did do that. But it was just a bit a fun you know? Between _friends_." she emphasized that last word particularly, so Buffy wouldn't misunderstand again.

"OK, I get it!" Buffy said sounding a little annoyed.

She finally sipped from her drink and said "I still don't get why we don't get to meet guys tonight. I thought that was the reason you wanted to go to a party tonight."

"Well you thought wrong." Finally relieving Willow of the drinks and passing them around, leaving one at Oz's feet who nodded in thanks. "I just wanna get shitfaced with my friends tonight."

…

For most of the evening they just lounged around in a corner with an old sofa and some battered armchairs, drinking beers telling each other amusing stories and occasionally playing pool. Oz joined them after a DJ took over from the band.

Slowly the party grew more rowdy around them. The music got louder, people started dancing and it was becoming increasingly difficult to talk. This was usually the part of the evening when people who weren't drunk yet left.

Faith looked over at Buffy who still looked surprisingly sober after four beers. She had to do something if she wanted to keep her here.

Xander had just been about to get another round of beers when Faith suggested "How about I get something a little bit stronger this time?"

She looked round to gauge reactions. Xander was clearly keen, Oz was as always unreadable and Buffy and Willow looked unsure.

She knew exactly what to do though "Come on B. Are you scared you won't be able to handle it?"

Challenging people was always a great way to get people into action.

"Bring your worst F." Buffy said glaring slightly.

Congratulating herself, Faith went out to look for some shots.

After she moved some empty bottles and cheap wine about on a table she found an abandoned bottle of tequila that had hardly been touched. So she quickly snatched it away along with some plastic cups and went back to her friends.

As she approached the group she held up the bottle of tequila in triumph and smiled excitedly.

A more outgoing group of people would have welcomed a bottle of tequila with much more enthusiasm but all she got in response was a silent cheer from Oz who quickly pretended to be stretching when he caught Will's eyes.

"Jeez guys, don't get too excited." She said sarcastically as she started dividing the tequila over five cups.

"Bottoms up." She winked and emptied her own cup in one smooth movement.

The others followed her example. Everyone besides Oz coughed and spluttered after drinking some. Willow even looked as if she had trouble breathing for a while.

"Man that's strong stuff..." Xander said hoarsely with streaming eyes.

Faith looked enquiringly at Buffy who was obviously trying to be as unmoved as Faith had been but failed miserably. "Too much for you B?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Hit me up again." She put her cup down in front of Faith with considerable force not realizing she was doing exactly what Faith wanted her to.

Everyone but Willow drank a second shot and both Xander and Buffy followed Faith in a third shot.

Xander didn't look so good after his last shot and had to run for the bathroom not long after.

"Right." Faith said starting to feel the pleasant tingle of the alcohol running through her body "I think we all had enough..." she made to close the bottle but Buffy stopped her.

"I don't feel anything yet. Give me another."

"Eh..." Faith hesitated "You should probably wait a bit B, until the alcohol has taken its effect..."

But Buffy just poured herself another large shot without listening.

She shrugged and also poured herself another large shot while Buffy finished hers. Faith knew very well how much she could take, and four shots would get her tipsy at most. She wasn't so sure about Buffy though.

And she was right, only a few minutes after her fourth shot Buffy's eyes suddenly became very unfocussed. She started talking a lot more and laughed very loudly at every lame joke. Much more interesting though, was the fact that she became very touchy-feely when drunk. Faith noticed she kept touching Willow's arm whenever she talked.

She was very different from Faith in that way. Whenever Faith got drunk she just grew silent and horny. Faith definitely felt the latter coming up right now as she silently observed Buffy.

When Xander slumped down again on the couch next to Buffy he was looking very pale and sweaty, and seemed to have run all out of energy. He only moved his eyes up very slowly whenever someone talked to him but no-one knew if he actually understood what was being said.

"Why don't we all go dance?" Buffy suggested excitedly.

Xander only managed to shake his head very slowly while Willow fell asleep on Oz's lap who because of this, was unable to go anywhere.

"I'll go dance with ya." Faith said with a sly grin.

Buffy smiled brightly and led her to the dance floor by the hand. Faith felt electric sparks fly straight from her hand down into her stomach.

It was just like it had been last year, Buffy and Faith fell in sync with each other right away and moved to the beat together. They danced so close that they were almost always touching and whenever they didn't Buffy closed the gap by placing soft touches all over Faith's arms and sides.

After a while it was not just their moves but also their breathing and heartbeat that fell in sync. Faith caught Buffy's eye for a second and suddenly felt courageous enough to return some touches of her own.

She slid her fingers lightly over Buffy's arm and felt the tiny hairs rise under her touch. It was almost like there was an invisible force between them.

Dancing with Buffy, touching and getting touched, it was almost like having sex to Faith. Her heart at least, pounded just as heavily.

She closed her eyes and leaned into all of Buffy's touches.

Unfortunately their dance had not gone unnoticed by some of the guys in the room, they were now quickly lining up to try and squeeze in between them. Faith pushed them away impatiently hardly taking notice of how much strength she used so that some guys went flying across the room white with fear.

She never stopped dancing or responding to Buffy's touches for a second though. She managed to switch seamlessly between fighting of intruders and dancing.

She had just been about to punch a guy who has come grinding against Buffy's ass, when Buffy herself pushed him away without even opening her eyes. The butterflies in Faith's stomach multiplied when she saw this. It was like Buffy only wanted to dance with her...

They danced on for what seemed like an eternity...

When Faith's hands started drifting dangerously close to Buffy's ass however, the little bit of sense she had left in her head sounded a warning bell. So she asked Buffy if she wanted to take a break.

A break was probably best, she thought, as she was starting to lose control fast. They went back to their corner, but Willow and Oz had already left, Xander on the other hand was in the middle of a furious match of tonsil-tennis with some unknown girl. This only helped increase Faith's urge to kiss Buffy, but she withheld knowing it was probably a bad idea.

She didn't want to leave Buffy alone for too long in this state so she unhanded some drinks from a dazed looking guy and handed one over to Buffy as she slumped down into the couch closely beside her, their legs touching.

Buffy however didn't seem bothered by Faith's company at all. She started petting Faith's arm absentmindedly and put her head down on Faith's shoulder. The butterflies in Faith's stomach now started a party of their very own.

Faith sipped her drink in silence, not daring to move for fear that Buffy would lift her head off of her shoulder.

"Jezus Faith you're so stiff." Buffy complained as she lifted her head away making Faith want to punch herself in the face for messing this up so fast.

But Buffy simply lifted up Faith's arm, swung it over her own shoulder and settled down against Faith's chest with her face buried snugly in her neck.

Faith's face glowed red hot and the butterflies' party now escalated into a full-blown rave.

Buffy's breathing relaxed and tickled over Faith's already sensitive skin.

She obviously had no idea what she was doing to Faith.

Faith had to stop this. She couldn't have Buffy sleeping against her like that, at least not without snapping and molesting her by accident.

"B-Buffy?" She tried to sit up a little bit straighter but froze when she felt Buffy's lips touch her neck.

Just when she had decided that it must have happened on accident she felt it again. Buffy's lips continued to tease at her neck and Faith had to suppress a moan.

"What the hell are you doing B?" She tried to sound firm but her voice cracked an trailed away.

Buffy didn't respond but instead turned herself more towards Faith, kissing her neck more fully now. She put a hand on Faith's shoulder as she traced her tongue up her neck and nibbled on her earlobe.

It was at this point that Faith's drink joined Buffy's on the floor.

Before Faith fully realized what was going on, Buffy was straddling her. She stared at Faith with glazed eyes for just a second before she grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her passionately.

Faith was so shocked that she didn't respond immediately. She just sat there with her mouth half-open and her hands hovering at Buffy's sides, still unsure whether they were going push Buffy off or pull her closer.

Her mind was made up for her however when she felt Buffy's tongue sneak past her parted lips and graze over her tongue.

She was kissing Buffy back now. Running her hands softly over her thighs, faintly tasting her lip gloss.

She nudged her head forward impatiently wanting to kiss her more deeply, to taste more. But Buffy, who had almost lost her balance, pushed her back by the shoulders. She did give her what she wanted though as she pressed her lips so powerfully into Faith's that she could hear the back of the old sofa creak ominously.

They kissed deeply, almost wildly. Faith's hands were now roughly rubbing up and down over the length of Buffy's body. She wanted to own it all: her tights, her back, her neck, her hair, her shoulders, her sides,...

Faith's mind went numb as she rubbed her hands up Buffy's sides feeling the soft swell of her breast just under each thumb. She softly nudged both her thumbs a little more to the front and Buffy moaned into her mouth in response.

Feeling encouraged, Faith moved her hands over Buffy's breasts completely now, squeezing them softly, feeling the nipple react through the thin cotton fabric...

Buffy's kissing got a little more erratic now, almost desperate. Panting over Faith's lips whenever she broke the contact slightly.

Faith carefully let one hand drop down to the edge of Buffy's shirt. She wanted to feel her bare skin more than anything.

She gently nudged her fingers under the fabric and felt the muscles of Buffy's stomach jump under her touch. Buffy moaned again in approval.

She now slowly edged her way upwards under Buffy's shirt, slightly pulling up the fabric with her. Her throat went dry in anticipation and she swallowed audibly.

But before Faith's hand could reach its destination however, Buffy's mouth suddenly went slack against hers and she fell sideways on the sofa like a bag of potatoes.

Faith still sat there with one hand slightly raised, looking like a complete idiot...

She dropped her hand feeling extremely disappointed.

She had just been about to check on the passed out slayer when she thought she saw Xander staring at her from the corner of her eye. When she faced him however, he seemed just as preoccupied as ever with his new lady friend.

She shrugged it of. It didn't matter if he'd seen or not. Buffy was sure to remember it all when she sobered up.

Faith had no doubt in her mind that Buffy would strongly regret this ever happened and would maybe even try to blame Faith for getting her drunk.

Maybe Buffy hadn't even realized who she was kissing. Maybe she was so drunk she had imagined it was Angel... or Parker...

Faith was angry with herself for getting carried away like that. She should have known better.

But it had been great fun, she thought happily when she hoisted Buffy over her shoulder.

She was probably never going to be allowed to touch Buffy like that ever again, so in a way she was glad that she had enjoyed the opportunity. Buffy couldn't blame her, she was the one who had started it after all.

And Buffy had also shown her true face for once. Proving that she needed sex just as much as Faith did.

Comforted by these thoughts Faith dragged the unconscious Buffy back to the dorms.


	10. Chapter 10

Faith had some very strange dreams that night.

In the first one she was at a loud party trying to find some drinks for her friends, she kept finding all kinds of great things, she found so many bottles in fact, that she didn't know which one to take with her in the end. So she tried to carry them all back at once but found it was impossible.

The very best bottles kept slipping out of her fingers and rolling away over the floor. She tried to chase them at first but lost even more bottles on the way. So she just gave up and struggled back to where she thought her friends were sitting when Willow suddenly popped up taking over some of the bottles. "I'm sorry Faith but we won't need these anymore... The party's already over. See?"

Everything went quiet and Willow suddenly turned into Xander who was bent over a toilet retching loudly. "Please Faith" He spluttered "Hold my hair up... please..."

She said there was no need to hold his hair up, it was short enough, he would be fine. He looked up at her sadly and said "But I thought I was one of the girls?"

"You did say that Faith" Buffy had suddenly popped up behind her "But you wouldn't help him of course. You only use your friends for sex, don't you? You did it to him and you were going to do it to me. Admit it. You spiked my drink and everything."

Faith protested loudly, she hadn't put anything in Buffy's drink. And besides, it was Buffy who had kissed her. She wasn't to blame.

Buffy didn't respond however, she just flung her arms around Faith and started kissing her again. Faith thought it must be a trap and tried to get away but she had no control over own body. She just nibbled docile on Buffy's lower lip while she heard her moan Angel's name over and over again.

It was at this point that Faith woke up to find she had been nibbling on her own pillow. She made a face as she spit out some fluff and reached for her watch.

She groaned when she saw she had missed two classes already that day. Maybe she could still make it to Ancient Mythology?

She got out of bed expecting to find Buffy had already gone. But the blonde slayer was lying on her bed in the exact same position Faith had left her in last night.

Faith hesitated. Should she wake Buffy up? She didn't really want a confrontation this early...

She shrugged. She was going to have to face this at some point anyway and Buffy really shouldn't miss another class today.

She shook Buffy's shoulder calling out her name. Buffy moaned grumpily and threw her arm over her eyes "Whad izit Faith?"

"It's almost time for Ancient Mythology B, but if you want to sleep some more..."

But Buffy wrenched her eyes open and let them dart across the room in confusion. Her eyes widened when they fell on her alarm clock "Why didn't my alarm go off?" she jumped up to check if the machine was still working.

"I think you may have switched it off accidentally..."

"Fuck! Shit!"

She had never heard Buffy swear like that before. "Chill princess. You'll catch up. But you should hurry up if you still wanna make it to mythology today."

She didn't have to tell her twice. Buffy started moving across the room like a hurricane, grabbing stuff here and there, getting ready.

They showered and got dressed in a hurry. Meanwhile Faith kept a close eye on Buffy, to see if she was at all embarrassed about last night. But she didn't notice anything different in Buffy's behavior...

The first time Buffy mentioned anything about last night was when they were walking towards the class a little bit later.

"How and when did we get home last night anyway?" She screwed her eyes up as if she was in deep thought "I can't remember at all."

Faith studied her face carefully "You passed out. I kinda dragged you home."

"Oh... Thanks I guess." Buffy didn't seem bothered by anything else.

"Don't you... Do you remember much? From before you passed out?"

"The last thing I can recall was dancing with you. Why'd you ask? Did I do something stupid after that?" She looked up at Faith anxiously.

"eh... no... It's just... I had so much fun with you last night, it'd be a shame if you didn't remember."

Faith could tell that Buffy wasn't lying. She really didn't remember the kiss. And Faith wasn't sure if she was supposed to be relieved or sad about this.

"Don't worry, I'm really glad I hung out with you last night." She smiled "We should definitely do it again soon. But next time I'll try not to pass out."

And forget everything, Faith thought sadly.

…

Oz and Willow were already sitting down when they arrived. They apologized for having left early last night and asked them how the rest of the party had been. Faith just sat there awkwardly while Buffy recounted what she thought had happened.

"You really shouldn't have encouraged Buffy to drink that much, Faith." Willow whispered as professor Bacchus walked in "But I'm glad you stuck with her and made sure she was alright."

Faith really wished she wouldn't thank her. If Buffy hadn't passed out who knows how far she would have taken it? And this while Buffy probably had no idea where she was and who with. It didn't matter that Buffy had started it, Faith should have realized she had no idea what she was doing and stopped her.

When Bacchus cleared his throat, people stopped talking and looked up. "Welcome to the first class of Ancient Mythology everyone! I'm professor Bacchus."

He looked around the room and spotted Faith "Aha! Miss Lehane!" He bounced a little on his toes as he said her name "I see you are taking both of my classes! I feel very flattered indeed.".

Buffy giggled while Faith turned scarlet.

"In this class we will be discussing ancient myths and legends from all over the world. Of course, we won't be able to study every culture's myths in equal detail. Instead we will mostly be focusing on Egyptian, Greek and Norse mythology and maybe we'll finish of the year with some Celtic legends. I figured that today we could start things slow by discussing some of your interests. Are there perhaps any works that you are already familiar with?"

Most people in the room suddenly looked very uncomfortable, perhaps because many of them had picked this subject hoping for an easy pass and not out of actual interest.

As expected though Willow was the first to raise her hand "Well, There's the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer."

"Yes of course. They are perhaps the most important works in Greek mythology and we'll be discussing them in detail during this class. Have you ever read them?"

"er... no..." Willow admitted "But I've read about them."

"I've read them." Everyone in the room was now staring at Faith. Even Oz looked a little surprised.

"Have you now?" Professor Bacchus seemed most impressed by this piece of information.

"Well... it was just the abridged versions... not that big a deal I guess."

"I wouldn't say that miss Lehane. There aren't many people of your age who've read Homer's work. Might I ask why you took an interest in it?"

Faith shrugged "My grandfather loved collecting books like that, I just happened to read them."

"So what other books did you happen to read? Any particular favorites?"

Faith had to think about that for a while "There were a lot more about Greece. I remember I really liked one called 'Myths of Crete'. There were also some general ones about Egypt and Rome. But I..." she hesitated.

"Go on" he encouraged.

"Well... I'm not sure whether it's ancient mythology exactly. But I really like stories about king Arthur. I've read 'The Once and Future King' so many times that I've lost count."

"Oh my! So you're into Arthurian legend! That is indeed fascinating stuff. I take it you're also in professor Crawly's class then?"

Faith just looked confused.

"You're not? What a shame! It's his last year teaching even. Maybe you could still squeeze it into your schedule? For some extra credit?"

"I'm actually still a few credits short sir."

"All the better! I'll tell him about you. I'm sure he won't mind finding a free spot in his class for such a brilliant student!"

Faith colored again, he was really giving her too much credit.

…

"I never knew you read that much Faith!" Willow said amazed as they were all having dinner together in the cafeteria after class.

"I don't do anymore." She said honestly "It was a long time ago."

"But you still knew so much about it! All those Greek names and stuff..." Bacchus had taken his time interrogating Faith about the things she claimed to have read all the way through the rest of the class. It had been quite tiring.

"Good memory I guess..." Faith said uninterested while she made a pyramid with her mashed potatoes.

"D'you think they'd also let me join that Arthur class?" Buffy asked out of the blue.

Faith looked up at her "Would you even want to?"

Buffy shrugged "I liked the Disney movie..."

"Then I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have you." Faith mocked. Her cheek earned her some peas to the face.

Xander joined them halfway through dinner. Faith had already guessed it wouldn't take long before he started hanging out with them at campus.

Faith watched his behavior carefully like she had done with Buffy but didn't notice anything odd. Maybe Xander hadn't seen anything after all. Maybe it had all been just another fantasy...

She was still studying Xander intently when Buffy suddenly got up and left the table. Faith followed her with her eyes, Buffy was practically skipping as she went.

"Where's she-?" But her question was answered when she noticed Parker waiting a bit further up ahead. She rammed her fork into the last piece of meat on her plate with considerable force. She didn't understand what Buffy saw in this weakling.

"Where does she know him from anyways?" Xander informed as they all watched Buffy talking shyly with Parker.

"She met him here in the cafeteria actually. He's also in psych class with us." Willow answered.

"And what does she see in him?" Faith asked trying to keep her voice even.

"Well... He's handsome for starters. No offense baby." She added quickly.

"None taken." Oz replied with a nod.

"And she says he's sensitive and smart." Willow continued with a sweet smile.

"And you agree?" Xander helped out.

Willow made a face and shrugged "I haven't talked to him that much. He seems nice enough..."

At this point Buffy returned from her short chat with Parker so they quickly pretended they had been talking about something else.

"We're going out for drinks tomorrow!" Buffy said looking extremely pleased.

"Good for you Buffy!" Willow congratulated.

"I can't wait!" She said still smiling broadly but her smile immediately vanished when she noticed Faith's expression "What's up with you?".

"Stomach ache" Faith lied.


	11. Chapter 11

It was excruciating for Faith to watch Buffy get ready for her date the next day.

True, she did get to see Buffy in her underwear a lot that day as she kept switching between potential outfits. But it still hurt her to see how much trouble Buffy was putting into it.

Every time Buffy asked for her opinion Faith smiled as if she had just bitten down on a lemon and murmured something like "Sure. You look nice.".

When Buffy was finally done and had left for her big date, Faith felt about ready to rip the room apart. Which was probably a very bad idea considering she had just bought herself all kinds of nice new things with the pocket money Giles had given her.

She tried to focus on her new possessions to calm herself down.

She now had her very own alarm clock and a lamp on the nightstand by her bed. She'd gotten herself some cooking tools and food as well so she didn't have to keep borrowing from Buffy.

And her wardrobe was filled with all kinds of cool new clothes.

The thing that made her happiest however she had kept hidden in a drawer because she couldn't stand to hear anymore jokes about 'Faith the bookworm' or 'Bacchus' fiance'. It was an old copy of 'The Once and Future King' she had gotten from a second hand bookstore. It hadn't exactly been the cheapest version they had, but Faith had gotten this one because it resembled the copy that she had read at her grandparents house so many years ago.

She got it out and settled down on her bed. Ever since she had talked about it in class she had wanted to read it again and well, she could do with some distracting right now.

Rereading this book brought back a lot of memories in Faith. And despite the humor of the first few chapters she felt a bit lonely.

…

By the time Buffy got back that night Faith had put her book away and was now sharpening her favorite stake by her desk.

"How'd it go?" She asked trying to sound neutral.

Buffy beamed down at her "It was great! We had been planning to go to the pub for drinks originally but we stayed and talked all night at the grotto instead. I've never met a guy who I could talk to so freely!"

"Did you tell him you're a slayer then?"

"I- n-no of course not." Buffy frowned "He would think I'm crazy. Why on earth would I wanna say that?"

"Then what could you talk to him about so freely then?"

"Just... feelings and stuff." she continued to swoon over her new boy toy "He's just so sensitive and strong at the same time. You see, his father died last year but he said that that just made him realize he should enjoy life more whenever he could... He's so smart."

Buffy continued for a while longer about the great philosophies of Parker Abrams.

But the more Faith heard about him the more she was convinced that this Parker kid just loved hearing himself speak.

"B... I don't mean to burst your bubble here but... this Parker sounds like a bit of a smooth talker to me. Maybe you should be careful..."

She had hardly finished her sentence before Buffy snapped at her: "Oh yeah? Well I think you're just jealous because the only person who asked you out is old man Bacchus!"

Faith paled with anger "I just don't want you to get hurt!"

"Yeah right!" Buffy screamed almost hysterically "Like last year? When you couldn't wait to get your paws on Angel!"

"I was never interested in Angel!" Faith bellowed "I just hated him because I am a slayer and he is a fucking vampire!"

"Do you always try to hit on guys you hate?"

"I just wanted him to give me a reason to stake him!"

They paused, breathing hard, looking at each other furiously. This was their first row since they became roommates.

"I trusted you and you wanted to stake my boyfriend?" Buffy said softly narrowing her eyes.

"You? Trust me? You wanted me gone the moment I arrived!" Faith scoffed.

"Only because you were being such a giant slut!"

"I'm not a slut!" Faith said heatedly.

"No... maybe I was wrong... now that you're such a _brilliant student_ after all. Tell me Faith. Is it all just an act to get into Bacchus' giant pants? Cause that would make much more sense to me..." she said with a voice filled with venom.

Faith lost it and charged, pinning an unsuspecting Buffy to the ground and punching her violently in the face. "You just can't handle the fact that I'm better at something for once!"

Buffy laughed madly "You've read some more fairy tales than me! Big deal!" she grabbed Faith's hands to keep her from lashing out again.

She pushed Faith off powerfully and managed to hit her with a punch of her own.

Faith staggered backwards, feeling blood gush from her nose. The pain caused her to feel even angrier than before. She charged forward again just as the door crashed open.

Faith's rush forward was suddenly blocked by an invisible wall and Buffy laughed maliciously as Faith collided with it headfirst and bounded backwards into the floor.

"What the hell is going on here?" Willow asked angrily looking between the two of them. It must've been her magic that had stopped Faith's attack.

"Stay out of it Red!" Faith snarled without taking her eyes of Buffy.

"Yeah Will, I can handle Faith's girly punches perfectly by myself." Buffy said as she licked her split lip.

Willow sighed and closed the door behind her. "What happened?"

"Buffy couldn't handle it when I told her her new boyfriend is a prat."

"And Faith couldn't handle it when I pointed out that she's a slut!"

They continued to stare daggers at each other while Willow looked warily from one to the other by the door.

"Ok. Ok." She said exasperated "Let's sort this out."

"Faith, you can't tell Buffy who she can and can't date..."

"I wasn't" Faith protested "I just told her to be careful!"

"Well don't do that either. Buffy is old enough to make her own mistakes and to deal with the consequences."

"And Buffy..." Buffy who had been looking on smugly as Faith got berated looked up at Willow "I'm disappointed in you... Calling Faith a slut? Not cool. Faith's been a great friend to you these past few weeks and this is no way to thank her."

Buffy looked sufficiently ashamed of herself and mumbled to the floor "You're right. I'm sorry Faith, I didn't really mean it. I was just upset..."

Faith felt her anger subside somewhat. "I'm sorry too B. I shouldn't have said those things about Angel... and Parker." That didn't have to mean she liked the guy though.

They made up with a contended Willow looking on. And Faith was strongly reminded of a kindergarten teacher that had successfully ended a squabble between two small children.

When Willow caught eye of Faith's side of the room however her face fell. "Did that happen because of the fight?".

Faith's part of the room did indeed look as if a bomb had exploded there. Dirty laundry and garbage were scattered all over the floor and covered in a thin layer of shavings from her stake.

"Dr. Will, may I call Faith a slob?"

"You may."

"Faith... you're a slob."

…

The next day was a Sunday, and since they had nothing better to do, Faith and Buffy decided to tidy their room somewhat and do their laundry.

"Yuck! Faith! What is one of your smelly socks doing in my bed?"

"No clue. But thanks for finding it." Faith said as she caught the missing sock.

"You really are unbelievably messy..."

"Tried to warn you." Faith said sounding amused as she tried to stuff more clothes into an already overflowing laundry bag.

They dragged the laundry bags down to the basement, where the washing machines stood, and started taking their clothes out again.

"Wowowow..." She stopped Buffy from putting a bunch of laundry in a machine "B, don't you know you shouldn't put colors with whites?"

"Eh..."

"You haven't ever washed your own clothes before have you?"

Faith helped Buffy sort her laundry while explaining some of the basics.

"and eh... these," She held up a pair of particularly frilly knickers with matching bra feeling a bit flustered "Go with the delicates... Got it?"

"I think so... Does this one go with the delicates too?" She held up what was unmistakeably a lacy thong and Faith couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Oolala Goldilocks, such naughty things in you underwear drawer. Are you going to give me a show later?" she winked naughtily and wiggled her eyebrows.

"You're one to talk." Buffy said eying Faith's much larger pile of naughty undergarments.

"Sharp like a knife you are." Faith said pretending to be impressed.

…

They went back upstairs to clean up some more while they waited for their laundry to finish.

Faith was at her desk putting the final pieces of garbage in a plastic bag and sorting out her books when she heard a girly squee right behind her.

She turned around and saw Buffy standing by her bed. She had thrown back the covers, apparently in an attempt to make up the bed.

Faith's insides went cold as she realized what Buffy must have seen.

"It's so... cuuuute!" Buffy picked Merlin up by his crumpled ears. "I never knew you had a snuggle pall Faith! That's so unexpectedly adorable of you!" she teased.

Faith dropped her books and rushed over "Give that back!" she snarled.

But Buffy jumped over to the other side of the bed and out of Faith's reach "No way. You gave me way too much shit about Mr Gordo and now... it's my turn." She grinned widely.

They danced round the bed while Buffy teased her some more: "So what's its name? Lemme see... Mittens?"

Faith grabbed wildly at Merlin but Buffy dodged again.

"No that's not it... Buttons maybe? Because...because of the little buttons see?" Buffy laughed as she dodged Faith once more.

"He looks homemade, doesn't he?" Buffy observed "Did your mommy make him?"

Faith had to laugh at this. Her mother probably wasn't even be able to sew a button on.

"C'mon Faith, don't be embarrassed. Introduce us." She gasped in a ridiculously overacted way "We could have a tea party together with Mr Gordo!"

"Oh get of it B." Faith stopped trying to get back Merlin and marched of to sit on Buffy's bed facing the wall.

"Aw... Are you sulking Faithy?" She said with a dreadfully sweet voice as she approached.

She dangled Merlin in front of Faith's eyes and whispered in her ear "Do you need a hug?".

Faith snatched Merlin away from her crossly. Buffy chuckled and sat down next to her on the bed.

"I'm figuring out more and more crazy stuff about you aren't I?" Buffy said as she leaned back on her hands looking at Faith. "It was weird enough finding out you're actually really smart... but now you're also being absolutely adorable... one would think dark forces are at work." she finished ominously.

When Faith didn't reply Buffy poked her sides insistently "Tough as nails Faith turns out to be a cute little puppy. Huh? Huh?"

Faith relented, dropped down on the bed and spoke to the ceiling "Alright. I'm not as tough as I appear to be. So what? I can't help that people won't look past the exterior."

"...and straight into the mushy inside." Buffy added looking down at her "So... who's the cat?"

"Merlin. My gran made him for me."

"Same Gran who told you about mermaids and read you Greek myths before bedtime?"

"The very same."

"She sounds charming. Do you still see her often?"

"She died when I was twelve."

"oh... I'm sorry... Do... Do you miss her?"

Faith finally ripped her eyes away from the ceiling and looked straight into Buffy's eyes "I do. She raised me all by herself. So she was like a mother to me."

They stared at each other in silence for what felt like a long time.

It was Buffy who finally broke this silence "W-What happened to your real mother then?"

Faith broke the eye contact again, she didn't really wanna talk about this. "Nothing." She said bluntly "She was just useless, that's all."

Buffy lay down next to Faith, frowning. She seemed to hesitate before she asked: "Where did you go then when your grandmother died?"

"Foster care"

Faith did not elaborate and Buffy didn't dare ask any further. They both lay there in silence, each with their own thoughts.

Faith had never talked about her childhood and what came after with anyone before. The fact that Buffy had listened to her without passing judgment and without prying further than she was allowed made Faith feel even more strongly about her.

She wanted to hug Buffy so badly that her heart ached because of it.


	12. Chapter 12

Ever since Buffy had discovered Merlin's existence, Faith didn't bother hiding him anymore. From now on the ragged cat doll was allowed to sit in full sight on her bed.

It had been a while since Faith had seen him so clearly in the daylight, not hidden by pillows or sheets, and she noticed how much more ragged and dirty he'd gotten over the past few years. They both had gone through a lot of course, moving from one foster home to another, and eventually all the way across the country. It had been rough.

One would think that compared to all she'd been through before, Faith's problems in Sunnydale would seem trivial. But it was quite the opposite. Being in love with someone who would never love her back hurt more than she could ever have imagined.

Love. That was what she felt for Buffy, she was certain of it, even though she had nothing to compare it with.

It hadn't started out as love of course. When she had first met Buffy, all she had wanted from her was acceptance and maybe even friendship. After a little while Faith had developed a sexual interest in Buffy, stemming more from her desire to corrupt her rather than any actual feelings.

But as they slowly became friends, something had changed inside Faith. She no longer wanted to corrupt her. All she wanted now was to protect her, so she could keep her, happy and safe, by her side forever. And more than anything, she wanted Buffy to feel the same way about her. She wanted to own her and be owned by her so badly it hurt.

It hurt so much...

It didn't help of course that Buffy was still dating Parker.

Faith still didn't thrust that rat. She had studied him from a distance whenever he had stopped by for a chat with Buffy. Everything about him, from his sympathetic looks and smiles to his philosophies about life, seemed way too rehearsed. She also didn't like the way his beady eyes seemed to roam over not just Buffy's body, but also that of every attractive girl in the room whenever he thought himself unwatched.

She was certain that this guy was up to no good. She had to try and tell Buffy again, hopefully this time without the screaming match.

…

Faith was sitting on the end of Buffy's bed watching her friend's reflection in the mirror as she got ready for her second real date with Parker. Faith absentmindedly petted Mr. Gordo as Buffy put on some earrings.

She looked really nice tonight, with her hair put up and dressed almost entirely in black. A shame really, that the boy she was going through all this trouble for was probably a fraud. Faith had to tell her right now.

"Buffy?"

"Uhuh."

"I have to tell you something, but you have to promise not to get mad..."

Buffy whipped around "Aha! I knew it. You've been drinking my milk again!"

"No, that was Merlin." She managed to make Buffy smile a little at that. "What I meant to say was... you should be careful tonight."

Buffy opened her mouth angrily but Faith interrupted her.

"I know I shouldn't interfere and I'm not, honestly. You can do whatever you want tonight."

"Yeah right. You just don't like Parker."

"I won't deny that. But this isn't just about Parker, I wanna warn you about men in general."

"Are you Faith the feminist now?" Buffy mocked.

"Oh haha. Let's face the facts here: I've got way more experience than you have. You should hear me out."

Buffy blushed "I have experience."

"Only with someone who lived over 200 years ago, back when it was cool to be a gentleman. Boys today aren't like that B."

"What are they like then? Oh wise Faith."

"There are a lot of guys out there who will only pretend to be nice just so they can get in your pants. You shouldn't give them what they want until after a few dates. Make them wait. If they stick around you know they're for real, if they don't..."

"Parker isn't like that."

"You can't be sure of that yet."

"I'll be the judge of that, thank you." Buffy said prickly while fixing her hair a little. "Besides... What makes you such an expert? Weren't you the heart breaker? Get some and get gone?"

"I wasn't always like that. And I'm not like that anymore. People change B." They stared at each other in the mirror while Faith added "I had to learn the hard way B and it changed me. I don't want you to have to go through that."

"I can't imagine you getting your heart trampled by some guy." Buffy added looking thoughtful "Seems very unfaith-like."

"I wasn't always a slayer. Being strong helps you stand up to men."

"When was this then?"

Faith didn't really want to talk about it but if it would make Buffy doubt Parker...

"I was way too young. There was this older guy, he told me he loved me, I believed him. I slept with him, he left me. End of story."

"Too young? How old were you then?"

"Just fourteen."

"Fourteen?" Buffy stopped messing with her hair and turned around fully now "And how old was he?"

Faith shrugged "Seventeen maybe? Back then I thought it was cool, dating an older guy like that."

"Jesus Faith..."

"I made some bad choices B." Faith said darkly "And the thing is, that wasn't even the worst one."

"Not the worst...?" Buffy looked like she was about to be sick.

"Nope. I was stupid enough to fall for the same trick not even a year later. That guy tried to share me with his friends."

"He didn't succeed did he?" Buffy said looking pale.

"No, I ran away." Faith lied, she hadn't gotten away, but she liked to believe she had. It made things easier.

"But still... wasn't there anyone... you foster parents... couldn't they?"

"Thing is B, most foster parents don't give much more of a shit than your actual parents. I mostly raised myself."

"That's horrible... No wonder you turned out a little..."

"Slutty B?"

"...promiscuous I was gonna say."

"Same thing really." Faith shrugged "But yeah... I didn't trust guys anymore after that, so I decided I'd be doing the stomping on hearts from then on. Seduce 'em, fuck 'em, leave 'em."

"But you're not like that anymore..."

"I'm _trying_ not to be like that anymore." Faith corrected.

"Well I think it's great. I had noticed you know, that you were less..."

"promiscuous" Faith helped with a smirk.

"Yeah. I'm proud of you Faith. You're doing the right thing. And I hope you find a nice boyfriend soon."

"or girlfriend." Faith added before she could stop herself.

"eh..." Buffy looked a little taken aback.

"Come on B. You're not that dim."

"Well... I suspected but..."

"And now you know for sure." Faith said simply.

"So... you like both then?"

"Oh yeah." Faith said with a characteristic wiggle of her eyebrows. "There was even a time I preferred girls."

"Why?"

"They couldn't force me to do something I didn't want to."

Faith wished she hadn't said that. It sounded much sadder out loud. But it was true though, before she became a slayer sleeping with girls had been a much safer bet, because she could still fight them off if things went bad.

Buffy looked uncomfortable.

"Well... I've got to go... I promise I'll be careful Faith. Really."

"You're a slayer. Just punch him if he gets fresh with ya."

Buffy just rolled her eyes and put on her jacket.

She was almost at the door when she said "Oh! Before I forget. There's still the Harmony situation..."

The dumb blonde turned vampire was indeed still roaming free. She had already taken a nibble out of Willow so it was high time she got caught.

"Don't worry. I'll patrol."

"Thanks Faith." she smiled and left. Faith was alone again.

…

Patrol turned out to be a bust. Faith found no trace of Harmony no matter where she looked. Even weirder was the fact that there seemed to be no vampires at all that evening.

Faith went home late feeling extremely disappointed. She could've used a good slay.

She had expected Buffy to be home by now but found the room empty. So she went upstairs to check if maybe Buffy was there but found Tara and Willow sound asleep.

Just as she got back in the room the phone rang.

"Buffy? We have a problem. The Gem of Amarra might be real after all..."

"It's me Giles."

"Faith? Can you pass Buffy through? She can explain it to you after..."

"Buffy's not here yet."

"She's not? But she said she was going to bed..."

"Tell me what happened G."

Giles told her that Buffy had ran into Harmony and Spike, a vampire who apparently looked like Billy Idol a lot, who were looking for something called the Gem of Amarra which could give vampires great power. Giles had thought the gem was just a legend and Buffy had gone to bed. Or so she had claimed.

"Well. If she was at a party, maybe she's still there?" Giles suggested.

"I doubt that... it's past three already. But I'll go check it out. See ya Giles."

She ran out the door while putting on her jacket. What if this Spike character had done something to Buffy? Faith had to find her.

…

Unfortunately Faith didn't find her.

She looked for most of the night starting to feel extremely frustrated and mad with worry. Her sleepy head was coming up with all kinds of horrible scenarios and just made her worry more.

The sun was already up by the time she finally gave up and went home. But instead of going straight to bed she paced across the room trying to come up with ways to find Buffy.

Just as she'd been about to call Giles again. Buffy walked into the room with messy hair as if nothing had happened.

"Where were you?" Faith asked annoyed at Buffy for looking so calm when she had been so worried.

Buffy jumped. She obviously had thought Faith would still be asleep.

"That's none of your business." she said rather haughtily.

"I was worried sick! I hear there's this dangerous Billy Idol lookalike on the loose and suddenly you don't come home... I've been looking all over for you thinking you were in trouble. You could at least tell me where you were, don't you think?"

"I-I was at Parker's." she said looking a little ashamed.

"Parker?" Faith seemed to deflate.

"I'm sorry. I should have called. I didn't think you'd be worried."

Faith's mind seemed to have frozen. It took her a while before she understood. Parker. Buffy. Sex.

Faith's heart shattered like a hand grenade inside her chest.

"You slept with him?" she asked in a hollow voice.

"Y-yeah" Buffy blushed and smiled "It was nice. Really nice. You were wrong about him Faith, he isn't...

But Faith didn't hear the rest. She was still in conflict with herself: cry in a corner or shout madly? Neither seemed appropriate in front of Buffy. So she had to try and hold it together for now.

She just nodded while Buffy prattled on happily. Her hands were shaking. She clenched them into fists to hide it. Her nails bore into the palms of her hands.

She had thought that by laying bare those embarrassing truths about her sex life she could prevent Buffy from sleeping with Parker. Or at least stop her from rushing into it. She felt betrayed, but she knew it was her own fault. Like always.


	13. Chapter 13

Ever since Faith found out that Buffy had slept with Parker she got more detached than ever. When she wasn't in class, she either went to the library to study or went for long walks on campus by herself. She didn't go on patrol with Buffy or joined the gang for dinner anymore. And whenever she couldn't avoid her friends, she just stood back a little being completely silent.

The change was so drastic in fact that both Willow and Xander asked her if she was alright on two separate occasions. Faith just mumbled something about classes being too hard and ignored them.

Strangely enough, Buffy didn't seem to be doing much better. She was almost as silent as Faith and seemed to be really down most of the time. Faith couldn't imagine why. Buffy had not only managed to get herself a new boyfriend but she had also been able to reclaim the gem from Spike and given it to Angel. Parker and Angel, at least two people who meant more to Buffy than Faith ever would...

Faith's new studious behavior however, proved very useful for the new class about Arthurian legend...

Professor Crawly was a skinny old man in a hideous brown suit whose face was so lined it seemed permanently covered in cobwebs. Unlike Bacchus he still had quite a bit of hair on his head but it was so white it was practically see through, so he still seemed bald. He had only grudgingly welcomed Faith and Buffy in his class and he didn't seem too impressed with either of them.

"So... you must be the famous Miss Lehane." he mocked "Professor Bacchus has told me lots about you but I would be very surprised if you were even half as good as he described."

Faith silently agreed with him.

The class was unexpectedly hard. They had to read large excerpts from "Le Mort d'Arthur." and discuss them in class.

But Faith's interest in these stories combined with her need to be alone suddenly made Faith a model student. She was always the first one to answer Crawly's questions correctly and her papers were so detailed she never got anything below an A.

Faith excelled so much in his class in fact that she quickly became Crawly's star pupil. Something she had actually been hoping to avoid since Bacchus but Crawly luckily was way less embarrassing.

Buffy however, wasn't doing so well in Crawly's class. She didn't seem to know what he was talking about most of the time and was completely lost whenever he asked her something.

Faith normally would have loved to help her but somehow she couldn't bring herself to offer. And Buffy never asked.

Things stayed like this for a while, until one afternoon when Faith was walking aimlessly around campus again she suddenly heard someone mention Buffy's name.

"...that Buffy chick?"

Faith was roused from her thoughts and looked up, trying to see whose voice it was and noticed two guys up ahead.

"She was alright. I preferred Amy though, much nicer tits."

"But you did fuck her right?"

"Of course I did" the guy on the right turned his face to his friend grinning widely "You know me."

Faith realized with a shock that it was Parker.

His friend looked at him in awe. "What was she like?"

"She had great stamina, I'll give her that..."

"Wild one was she?" he said laughing.

"Not really. She started of all soft and romantic but I quickly changed that." He grinned "By the end she was practically begging me for more."

Faith's blood started to boil and there was a strange rushing sound in her ears.

"Did she like it rough then?" His friend was almost drooling.

"Oh yeah" Parker nodded impressively biting his lower lip "Normally I wouldn't get to do all that to an inexperienced girl. But she really ate it up..."

"Inexperienced? Like... a virgin?"

"I don't think so... but man, was she tight!" He grinned and mimicked fucking with his fingers "Best shag I had in weeks. I almost considered fucking her again. Maybe you should go for it? Be her rebound date."

"I don't think any girl would buy that."

"Buffy might. She was a real dumb bitch. I practically had to spell it out for her: one-night-stand"

He and his friend laughed.

Faith snapped and couldn't think straight any longer. All that went through her head in the time it took for her to reach Parker were loose incoherent words. Unworthy. Asshole. Paws. Bastard. Buffy. Kill.

Faith grabbed Parker by the shoulder and roughly turned him around. He looked surprised for a second and then smiled in a way he probably thought charming: "Hi. Do I-?"

Faith punched him square in the face mid-sentence feeling his teeth crack beneath her knuckles. Parker hit the ground bleeding.

His friend screamed something but Faith didn't hear. She just wanted to keep hurting Parker until he stopped moving.

She picked him up again by the scruff of the neck, and kept punching him all over while holding him up.

The rushing sound in her ears had gotten ten times worse now and a red haze obscured her vision. She had completely lost it. She was sure that she would end up killing him if no-one stopped her.

In a way Parker was lucky she was so damn angry. She was shaking so badly her aim was completely of, so most of the time her knuckles just scratched past him. She still did loads of damage though.

Parker landed on the ground again, just barely conscious, and Faith now started kicking him ferociously.

Suddenly Faith was grabbed by 2 sets of arms and pulled back. She tried to elbow whoever was standing behind her but her arm was grabbed by Willow.

She kept struggling while Willow shouted at her, probably trying to get some sense in her. Faith only caught parts of it.

"-aith... Stop! Please!... You'll kill him! … end up in prison. Calm down!"

But Faith didn't want to calm down. She wanted to keep on hurting the bloody mess at her feet previously known as Parker.

Willow had to hear about what he'd done.

But Faith was so mad her explanation came out all jumbled: "He hurt Buffy! Talked shit about her! Have to kill him!"

Willow seemed to realize that Parker's presence wasn't helping Faith calm down.

"You!" She spat at him "Get out of here. If I ever catch you hurting anyone ever again, I'll set her loose." She nodded at Faith. "Go that?"

Parker looked absolutely terrified. He just nodded and scrabbled away as quickly as he could.

As soon as he was out of sight Faith finally came back to her senses. Oz and Xander only dared let go when they were sure she'd completely calmed down.

"I hope he doesn't sue..." Xander said softly.

"I doubt it. Guys like him would ever admit to being beaten up by a girl." Willow said with contempt.

Faith felt empty. Why hadn't Buffy told her what was going on? Why did she have to hear all this from Parker?

Willow, Oz and Xander looked at her warily.

"Did she tell you?" She asked in a hollow voice "What Parker did to her?"

They all looked at each other "Well she didn't go into detail like Parker no doubt did..." Willow finally admitted.

"But you did know." Faith croaked. She felt miserable, even more so than she had before. Buffy still didn't trust her. And this while Faith had finally opened up to her.

…

Faith locked herself in her room for the rest of that day.

She was ashamed she had lost control over herself so easily. Her mother had been like that too... and Faith's biggest fear was turning out like her. Unfortunately for Faith though, she and her mother had a lot more in common, as everyone who had met her mother kept emphasizing.

Faith lay alone on her bed in the gradually darkening room waiting for Buffy to storm in and judge her like she always did.

But when Buffy did enter the room, she was remarkably quiet. She stood by the door watching Faith for a while before she spoke.

"Faith... Willow told me..." She said softly "Why would you...?"

Faith sat up on her bed "The things he said about you B... I couldn't let him get away with that. He had it coming." she tried to sound strong but her voice failed her.

"You don't have to defend me Faith... I can look after myself." Buffy said a little accusingly.

"I know that." Faith said getting annoyed "But everything he said... I- I just lost it."

They stared at each other for a while without speaking.

"Why didn't you tell me B? Why did I have to hear it from Parker?"

But Buffy just looked down at the floor and didn't respond.

"Why did you tell everyone but me? When I told you so much..." Faith's voice cracked with emotion "I though we were friends..."

Buffy looked up, seemingly on the verge of tears "Of course we are friends Faith!"

"No, no, I mean it." Buffy continued as Faith gloomily shook her head "I wanted to tell you. Honestly."

Buffy sat down next to Faith on the bed putting a hand on her knee.

"I was just... really ashamed." she avoided Faith's gaze again "You warned me about him and I didn't believe you. You must think I'm so stupid..."

"I don't think you're stupid." Faith said softly finally making Buffy look up.

"You don't?"

"Never." Faith simply said.

They stared at each other for a long time until Buffy suddenly pulled Faith into a tight hug. "Faith, you are so sweet you're giving me a tooth ache. Please be my friend forever."

Faith didn't respond immediately, feeling a bit awkward at first. But then she finally let go and melted into Buffy's arms.

"I won't go anywhere." she said softly as she put her own arms around Buffy's waist.

They clung to each other in the dark for a long time.

The shards inside Faith's chest seemed to melt in Buffy's warmth and formed a fragile whole again.


	14. Chapter 14

Willow had been right about Parker. He had left campus quietly without even trying to take action against Faith.

His absence cheered Buffy and Faith up considerably, so much so in fact that Buffy finally got some academic praise in both psychology and ancient mythology. She had now rather grudgingly joined Willow and Faith on Bacchus' favorites list.

Professor Crawly's class however was still a big problem for her, so she asked Faith to help her out.

Faith of course, seeing her chance to spend a lot more one on one time with Buffy, was more than ready to help.

Buffy's biggest hindrance obviously was the fact that she wasn't familiar with the story of Arthur.

If it had been anyone other than Buffy, Faith would just have told them to read "The once and Future King" as it was pretty much just a novelization of "Le Mort d'Arthur".

But Buffy hated reading so Faith ended up retelling the whole story bit by bit during their patrols and before they went to bed.

Buffy even took an interest in story after a while. And sometimes stopped Faith to ask her questions.

"So he slept with his sister?"

"His half-sister" Faith corrected "Morgause"

Buffy made a face "Yuck."

Faith laughed "Yuck indeed. But Arthur couldn't have known. Merlin forgot to warn him."

"Right, you did mention that..." she added in thought "And so she had an evil baby?"

"Mordred."

"Why was he evil though?"

"Because he was born from an incestuous relationship. Incest is a grave sin, and Mordred was like the punishment. Fated to destroy his Father's kingdom."

"And did he in the end?"

Faith winked "You'll have to wait and see."

"Then keep talking! I wanna hear what happens next!" Buffy said looking eager.

Once Buffy was a little bit more up to speed with the story, Faith helped her every week with the texts they had to read for class.

They would both lie on their stomachs on Faith's bed while reading these texts. Giving Faith great opportunities to get close to and touch Buffy without causing too much suspicion.

Faith would occasionally point things out on the pages right under Buffy's nose, accidentally brushing her arm up against Buffy's chest and feeling her breathing tickle over her hand.

Sometimes Faith would even dare to tuck Buffy's hair behind her ear again, claiming it blocked her view of the texts.

Moments like these always sent butterflies all the way through Faith's body and it was exhilarating to see how far she could take this.

It could've been just her imagination playing tricks on her, but sometimes it seemed as if Buffy enjoyed these moments just as much as she did. Whenever Faith would touch her, her breath seemed to hitch a little. And Faith sometimes could've sworn that Buffy had been staring at her just a moment before.

At times like these Faith always tried to take her innocent little touches a bit further, by placing her hand over Buffy's or leaning in a bit closer so that their faces were almost touching. Hoping that maybe, she had been right all along and Buffy would squeeze her hand in response or lean in just an inch closer so that their lips would touch...

Unfortunately though Faith's hopeful daydreams never came to anything. Whenever she got too bold, Buffy would quickly get up looking flustered. Saying she needed to go to bed or study for another subject.

Faith was always afraid that she'd finally blown it and that Buffy wouldn't want to study with her like this again. But much to Faith's relief, every night before Crawly's class, Buffy would come and lie down next to her. And the game repeated itself all over again.

One night however, it had gotten quite late and Faith suddenly realized that Buffy had fallen asleep next to her.

Faith brushed the old texts to the ground, for once not caring about the stories of Arthur and Merlin, and lay back down facing Buffy.

She petted Buffy's hair absentmindedly.

Was it really so strange for her to hope that Buffy might feel the same way? She had always flirted with Faith in a playful way. A playful way... that was it though wasn't it? Nothing more. It was a game to Buffy.

But was it really though? What had that kiss at the party meant for instance? Sure, Buffy had been drunk out of her mind... but was she really so drunk that she didn't realize who she was dealing with anymore?

Right before the kiss, when she had settled down against Faith, she had still known who she was with. Had even said her name...

Was it possible that Buffy was just afraid of her own feelings? And had only dared to kiss Faith because of the alcohol?

It seemed possible... but on the other hand... no... it was completely insane.

Faith tried to arrange her thoughts, so she could make some sense of it all, but she just got a headache.

She eventually gave up and instead focused her attention on her sleeping companion once more.

If Buffy was indeed worried about her feelings towards Faith, she was hiding it surprisingly well...

She looked so peaceful.

Faith laid her hand on top of Buffy's, petting it softy with her thumb.

As sleep slowly took a hold of her, her exhausted brain came up with one last insane idea.

She had to take Buffy out to a party, get her drunk again and confront her about her feelings. Or simply wait and see what she would do...

In her drowsy state it seemed like an ingenious plan.

She smiled and congratulated herself before she finally fell into a deep sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

No matter how insane the idea seemed to Faith the next day, she was still planning to go through with it. If she wanted Buffy to be truthful about things like this... she was going to need alcohol.

It might seem totally desperate, but Faith had to know how Buffy felt. And tonight was her way to test the waters. If nothing happened, Faith would have to be happy with just being friends, but if something did happen, well... she was going to have to make Buffy see that she had girlfriend potential...

The plan was simple. Suggest a harmless night out among friends, get Buffy drunk, flirt, dance and hopefully score another kiss. The tricky part was getting Buffy just the right amount of drunk. She didn't want Buffy to pass out and forget everything like last time...

…

"Party tonight? Count me in!" Xander shouted enthusiastically as soon as Faith had suggested it during dinner. "Last time was so much fun! I can't wait!"

"Oh I noticed." Faith winked and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively "That chick who was eating your face... went home with her?"

Xander blushed "eh no... she eh... passed out."

"Ouch." Faith knew his pain "Better luck next time" she added with a crooked grin. Yes, better luck next time. Hopefully also for her.

"Wait..." Buffy seemed to be thinking hard "A girl was eati-, I mean kissing Xander? How'd I miss that?"

"Same way as the girl in question did. You passed out."

"Oh right." Now it was Buffy's turn to blush.

"Don't worry B, happens to the best of us. " Faith reassured "I'll make sure you won't overdo it this time."

"Speaking of girls..." Xander said hesitantly "Can I bring Anya tonight?"

"Who's Anya?"

"Xander's new girlfriend" Willow teased "She used to be a vengeance demon so she's totally weird."

"She's not my girlfriend yet Will, we're just going out. And she's not... that weird." Xander colored again.

"Well, girlfriend or not. Feel free to bring her." It was good that Xander brought along a distraction for himself, that way it would be easier for her to sneak of with Buffy to a more secluded place. "You bringing Oz?" She asked Willow.

Willow shrugged "I don't think so. He's playing at the bronze tonight."

"You going with him then?"

"No, he can look after himself." Willow said in a surprisingly cold voice " I might bring Tara though."

The rest of the gang exchanged a look. Trouble in paradise? They decided not to go into it.

"So you'll be bringing Tara..."

Willow smiled and nodded in response.

"Can't wait to see how that turns out..." Faith added in a much softer voice so only Buffy would hear.

Buffy tried to keep a straight face and asked "So where is this party anyways?"

"The Alpha Delta frat house. I heard they throw the best parties."

…

And when they arrived, it quickly became clear that the rumors were true. The Alpha Delts did know how to party.

It was only a little after ten when they arrived but the party was already in full swing.

The music could be heard from halfway across campus and even the outside of the frat house was littered with drunks and kissing couples.

Faith strolled up to the front door with confidence, the others lagging a bit behind. When they entered they were nearly blown outside again by the insanely loud music.

"So what do we do now?" Anya shouted over the music.

Clearly she didn't go to parties like these much. But at least she didn't look as terrified as poor Tara. It seemed that the only thing keeping her from fleeing was Willow's hand around her elbow. Willow didn't seem too confident either as she probably missed Oz already. Xander seemed to be the only one who was genuinely excited, beaming as he looked around.

Faith had already reached for some drinks on a nearby table, and elegantly handed them over to her friends one by one.

"Now Anya. We drink." Faith said with a wink.

Faith had been a bit worried at first that the new faces in the group would prevent everyone from letting go completely tonight but was soon proved wrong. Anya's dance moves may have been a little weird but at least seemed to have fun. Faith was also pleased to see that Buffy was very eager to dance with her, even before she had much to drink. Even Tara seemed to be trying hard to have fun even though she was probably scared out of her mind.

The real problem turned out to be Willow. She had already seemed down when they'd arrived, and seemed to get worse with every drink she had. They did try and ask her what was wrong a few times but she just waved them away. "I'm fine! Go dance."

"What's up with her?" Xander asked as they were all standing over at the drinks table.

"She won't say." Buffy said looking over at the corner where Will and Tara sat talking and drinking "Rough day maybe?"

"She probably just got a C or something" Faith joked.

"Well, we can't help her if she won't talk." Buffy sighed "Come on Faith. I thought we were here to have fun?" She cocked a eyebrow at her and held out her hand.

Faith was a little surprised at first, thinking Buffy wouldn't want to dance much if her best friend was feeling down, but quickly recovered and grabbed Buffy's hand. "Right behind you princess."

Faith could tell that Buffy was getting a little tipsy now as she was getting more and more intimate while dancing. She was going to have to be careful not to let Buffy drink too much from hereon out. So when Buffy wanted a break it was Faith who went to get the drinks.

As she wandered over to the drink table though she was suddenly blocked by some drunk frat boy trying to get attention.

"Heya, zyou wanna dance wiv me?" he slurred.

Wow, he really knew how to romance a girl. She tried to just walk past him but he kept blocking her.

"C'mooon." He whined "At least have one drink wiz me."

"Just one drink? All right" Faith said smirking.

She pushed a tequila shot in his hand and took one for herself "Bottoms up" she said with a wink.

He smiled stupidly, drained the glass and promptly fell to the floor.

Faith smacked her lips after drinking down her own glass and said in mock disappointment "That all? Not even a dance? Well that's just too bad."

She grabbed some more drinks and happily jumped over the passed out frat boy on her way back.

Her happiness quickly evaporated when she saw Buffy talking to some guy and cursed herself for leaving Buffy alone too long.

Luckily for her however, Buffy didn't seem too interested and left the guy as soon as she saw Faith approach.

"What did he want?" Faith said as she handed Buffy her drink.

"Just the TA for psych. Wanted a chat I guess." Buffy said uninterested "How about you? Met anyone interesting?"

"Well... There's this blonde girl I really want to dance with." Faith said grinning.

"Really?" Buffy said looking around confused "Who?"

Faith just laughed, took Buffy's hand and dragged her back to the dance floor.

…

They were just getting really into the dance when Buffy suddenly looked at something over Faith's shoulder.

"Is that?" she frowned "Is Willow... crying?"

They walked over to where Tara and Willow were sitting, and found the latter was indeed crying.

"Will what's wrong?" Buffy sat down on the other side of Willow and put her arm around her.

"I-It's Oz" Willow said thickly in between sobs "H-he likes another g-girl."

"What?" Buffy said looking incredulous "Oz? Really?"

"Y-yes. T-this slutbag called Veruca. S-she's hot and... in a band and... and... I can't compete with her..." She added hopelessly.

"That's not true. Oz loves you." Buffy reassured "What makes you think that he likes this girl anyway?"

"H-he keeps staring at her. A-and he doesn't even seem to hear me when she's around." Willow sobbed loudly.

"That's it?" Faith asked raising her eyebrows as high as they would go.

Tara smiled while she patted Willow on the shoulder "I-I think the alcohol is making it seem worse than it is."

"H-he's probably with her right now." Willow said miserably with a tear stained face.

"Oz isn't like that Will." Buffy tried again "He would never cheat on you."

But Willow seemed too far gone to comfort. Tara eventually offered to take her home and put her to bed.

"So... I suppose you want to go too?" Faith asked fearing the worst.

But Buffy simply shrugged "I dunno... She'll be fine with Tara won't she?"

Faith's heart seemed to swell up inside her chest. She might still have a chance with Buffy tonight! Wasn't already a great sign that she would rather stay and party with her instead of taking care of her friend?


	16. Chapter 16

The music thumped loudly, but not loud enough to drown out the beating of her own heart. She was dancing with Buffy in perfect sync again. Most of the time she had her eyes closed, leaning into Buffy's gentle touches and feeling her presence all around her. But sometimes Faith couldn't help herself and opened her eyes. Just the sight of Buffy dancing like this was intoxicating. She held her breath as she admired her. This was the Buffy Faith had fallen in love with: wild, free and exciting. She wished Buffy would let go like this more often...

Just as Faith let her gaze wander over Buffy for what felt like the hundred time that night Buffy's eyes fluttered open. Their eyes met and Buffy smiled brightly at her. A jolt of electricity traveled through Faith's body and she only managed to smile back weakly.

Buffy pressed up against Faith and shouted something in her ear. Her entire body tingled at the close contact as she guessed rather than heard that Buffy suggested a break so she took her hand and led her to a less noisy part of the house where they could sit and rest for a while.

They grabbed some beers on the way and sat down in a rather dirty couch next to a couple that seemed to be having an argument.

"-wasn't cheating... _she_ kissed me! I-"

"Oh spare me your excuses! You do this every time we-"

Faith instantly regretted sitting down next to them, but there really wasn't anywhere else to sit. Buffy didn't seem too bothered however, she just sipped her drink happily and said she was having the best time.

If Faith wanted to find out more about Buffy's feelings she needed to make her move now...

Should she just straight out ask her? Or was it still too risky? If things went wrong and Buffy remembered, their new found friendship would probably suffer because of it.

Faith realized that she was chickening out. She had to remind herself firmly that not knowing is always worse than rejection. She had to do something tonight... something that would give her an answer but could be passed of as an unimportant gesture if she did get rejected.

Buffy finally noticed that Faith was staring "Are you OK Faith?"

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine" She quickly took a swig of her beer and looked sideways.

The couple beside them had finally made up and were kissing each other passionately now.

Faith tried to concentrate. What could she do?

The smacking noises next to her were really distracting...

While she was trying to come up with an idea her eyes unconsciously traveled back over Buffy.

Her eyes found Buffy's, who was obviously still wondering what was up with her.

What if she just kissed her? Maybe she could pass that off as a bad drunk joke if she failed?

"Faith, are you sure you're OK?" Buffy asked looking a bit worried now.

Faith looked down at Buffy's lips. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea?

"Yeah... I just-" Faith looked back up into Buffy's eyes and leaned forward a little. Fuck it. She was going to do this. No more debating.

Faith's lips had hovered barely an inch above Buffy's when Xander and Anya suddenly showed up, making them both jump.

"There you are!" Xander stood swaying on his feet completely oblivious to the fact that he had just interrupted something.

Both Buffy and Faith just looked up sheepishly as Anya spoke.

"Me and Xander are going to have sex in his basement now. And he said we couldn't leave without saying goodbye so... goodbye." she smiled at them for only a second, grabbed Xander's arm and dragged him away.

Xander could only splutter in embarrassment as he was dragged off. Faith called after him:

"Good job man. She's a keeper!" She gave him a thumbs up and a wink as he disappeared into the crowd.

"We all know who's wearing the pants in that relationship." they looked at each other briefly and both burst into laughter.

Faith watched Buffy as she wiped a tear from her eye while still giggling softly. The mood was completely ruined now, and there hadn't been much of a mood to begin with.

Just as she was wondering how she could fix this problem however two more people joined them on the couch so that Faith was nearly pushed onto Buffy's lap. They smiled at each other in an embarrassed way as they were being mushed together.

"Why don't we go find someplace less... cramped." Buffy suggested as she pulled her arm out from between the side of the couch and her own leg.

"Right"

Faith followed Buffy up the stairs, occasionally supporting her when she swayed dangerously.

Buffy checked every room they passed but found most of them locked. Probably because the people inside of it were having sex.

They walked past a rowdy room with a pool table and Faith noticed there were some seats in the back. She tried to tell Buffy but saw her walking up the next flight of stairs already. Faith quickly followed in case she got dizzy again.

At the end of the third floor hallway, Buffy finally found an empty room. She smiled and held the door open for Faith.

This room was a lot nicer than the ones they had at the dorms. It was much bigger even though only one person seemed to live there and the furniture was a lot nicer. The double bed, wardrobe, shelves and desk all seemed to be made out of the same handsome dark wood and both the sheets and curtains were an elegant deep blue. Whoever was living here sure kept the place very nice and tidy, even all the book and trinkets were lined up perfectly.

As soon as Buffy closed the door behind her Faith started panicking. Why did Buffy bring her here? What did she want from her? If there wasn't any dancing or flirting involved Faith was certain things would get awkward between them really fast.

Faith needed some time to think this through so she sauntered over to the nearby shelves, grabbed a snow globe and shook it without really paying attention to its effect.

Was it still a good idea to try and kiss Buffy? Wasn't this the ideal opportunity?

She had been so confident downstairs in all the noise and confusion so why was she freaking out now?

And why was she over-thinking this anyway? She was Faith, the girl without a plan. She just needed to go for it and worry about the consequences later.

She took a deep breath and turned to face Buffy again, only to find her standing right in front of her looking a bit dazed.

Before she realized what was happening, Faith suddenly found herself pinned to the wall by Buffy, being kissed her all over her neck and chin with the same kind of wild passion as last time. The snow globe lay smashed on the floor.

Faith's brain went out the window instantly. Her hands flew up into Buffy's hair, forced her face up a little and started kissing her back. She slipped her tongue inside Buffy's mouth, tasting her and the beer she'd just had.

Faith was lost completely in the moment, until she got an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu and finally came back to her senses.

She pulled Buffy's face away from her own panting slightly. "B, Who am I?"

Buffy looked at her with unfocussed eyes before she answered looking both confused and annoyed "You're Faith of course."

Buffy let out a girly squeal as Faith reversed their position so she was the one pinning Buffy against the wall. This time she was going to take the lead.

"Good. You should know who'll be making you scream with pleasure later." She said huskily.

She kissed Buffy deeply again, her fingers still wound in her soft blond hair. She kissed her with so much need in fact that she felt her lips bruise.

It was as if a wild beast had finally been set free inside Faith the moment Buffy had said her name, proving she knew what she was doing. And Faith couldn't control herself any longer. The time for being gentle and careful where over. She had waited too long already.

There was indeed nothing gentle about their kiss. It was hot, wet and needy. Almost violent...

She pulled Buffy's head back by her hair, exposing her neck so she could bury her face in it. Buffy's intoxicating scent filled her up and drove her further over the edge. She dragged her teeth over the sensitive flesh and bit down, eliciting a shivering moan from Buffy.

Faith nibbled her way back up to Buffy's earlobe and whispered "You shouldn't have locked yourself in here with me B. Now I'm gonna have to do some very very bad things to you."

She looked at Buffy to gauge her reaction and saw that her usually pale eyes were now dark with desire and her lips were slightly parted as if begging for Faith to kiss them again.

Faith decided to translate this as a 'yes please' and crashed their lips together again.

Faith pressed her body down on Buffy's more firmly and immediately felt Buffy's legs open a little wider so she could settle between them. Faith let go of Buffy's hair and let her hands slide down to Buffy's backside. She pulled Buffy's hips against her and they slowly struck up a rhythm.

Buffy moaned into Faith's mouth and moved impatiently against her, obviously wanting more friction. Faith let one of her hands drop a little lower so it was under Buffy's leg and lifted it up. It obviously had a great effect on Buffy because she broke the kiss needing to gasp for air and grabbed onto Faith's more tightly.

They now looked deep into each others' lust filled eyes, panting, as they rubbed into each other.

Buffy, being a little to eager, practically jumped Faith and wrapped her legs around her. And Faith, who was still quite drunk, lost her balance and stumbled backward colliding hard with the shelves behind her. Heavy books and other objects started raining down on them and Faith heard some glass shatter on the floor.

Faith in her hurry to get away from the falling junk, threw her weight forward hoping they would crash into a nearby wall but unfortunately they ended up crashing into the wardrobe, completely destroying it.

They both ended up in a crumpled heap among the wreckage of the wardrobe. Faith sat up, throwing of some splintered wood and bunched up clothes.

"I'm so sorry B. I didn't-" But she was interrupted as Buffy's mouth collided with hers again.

Buffy was lying on top of her now, kissing her needily and tugging impatiently at Faith's shirt. Faith appreciated Buffy's enthusiasm but she never cared much for being bottom. She rolled over and sat up straddling Buffy's tights.

"You want me to get naked B?" She said in a sexy drawl as she looked down at Buffy "I can do that..."

Faith pulled her top of in one swift movement and saw Buffy's eye widen. She smiled down at her and licked her lips alluringly. Buffy swallowed hard as Faith made to unclasp her bra.

When Faith's breast were bared Buffy's hands immediately shot up to touch them but Faith stopped her by grabbing her wrists.

"ah ah ah. You have to earn it first." She said with a smirk.

Buffy didn't reply but obviously got the message as she sat up slightly and removed her own shirt and bra.

Faith had been meaning to make a witty remark again but instantly forgot all about it as she caught sight of Buffy's breasts.

Faith placed her hands on Buffy's bare stomach and slowly slid them up until she felt the soft swell of Buffy's breasts. Buffy arched into her touch and moaned softly.

Faith watched how Buffy's nipples grew hard under her touch. She wanted to taste them so badly... Faith hesitantly lowered her head down towards the soft pink nub and felt her mouth water.

She dragged her tongue achingly slow across the already erect nipple and felt Buffy shiver violently beneath her.

"F-Faith... p-please..."

Hearing the need in Buffy's voice Faith grew bolder and placed her mouth over Buffy's breast. Buffy moaned loudly as Faith sucked and nibbled on the sensitive flesh.

Buffy's breathing grew fast and shallow.

Faith now started kissing down Buffy's stomach. Just as she unbuttoned Buffy's jeans, she heard her take a sharp intake of breath as if in pain.

Faith looked up quickly and just saw Buffy remove a piece of broken wood from under her back. The wreckage of a wardrobe was obviously not the best place to fuck so Faith grabbed Buffy by the waist and pulled her up.

She nibbled at Buffy's neck while she nudged her over towards the bed and them pushed her down on top of it rather roughly.

There much better.

Faith climbed on top of Buffy again with a devious smile. She went straight back to work and pulled down Buffy's pants, tossing it aside carelessly.

She looked down at Buffy hungrily and was about to remove her panties when Buffy suddenly stopped her.

"Earn it" she said decisively.

The blonde slayer was learning fast, Faith thought as she removed her own leather pants with some difficulty. Faith's pants joined Buffy's on the floor as Faith settled down in between Buffy's legs.

Faith rocked her hips into Buffy's. Slowly at first, but steadily speeding up. They gripped onto each other more tightly now, wanting to feel more friction.

Buffy swung her legs around Faith again and whispered into her ear "I-I wanna feel you against me..."

"I have a better idea" Faith said in a low voice.

She kissed down Buffy's collarbone and lifted herself up a little. Buffy whimpered at the loss of contact.

Faith slowly kissed her way over Buffy's breasts down to her stomach. She hooked her fingers under the material of Buffy's panties and slid them down.

Faith threw one last burning look up at the anxious looking Buffy before she placed her mouth over her dripping wet pussy.

Faith had fantasized a lot about this moment, but none of her fantasies compared to the real thing. Tasting Buffy in this way was nearly enough to send Faith crashing over the edge before Buffy did.

Faith ran her tongue up to Buffy's clit and teased it slowly.

It was obvious that it wasn't going to take much to make Buffy come. Her hips twitched every time Faith flicked her tongue over her hard little clit and she moaned and gasped Faith's name so loudly Faith was sure people would eventually hear in spite of the loud music downstairs.

Faith dipped her tongue a little lower down to Buffy's dripping entrance but suddenly felt a sharp tug on her hair. She looked up enquiringly.

"I-I want to touch you too..."

Faith obeyed and went back up to face Buffy again. She felt Buffy jolt against her when she kissed her again, probably because she had tasted herself on Faith's lips, but she settled back down after the initial shock.

Faith slipped her right leg in between Buffy's thighs and started rubbing into her again, more roughly than before.

Buffy hooked her fingers in Faith's panties and tried to pull them down. It was impossible in their current position of course so Buffy just ripped them off clean.

The bed creaked ominously as they pushed hard into each other trying to find release.

Faith thrust her hips forward violently while Buffy clung to her. She was so damn close...

Faith grabbed on to the headboard for better support.

Just as she came crashing over the edge the bed gave a loud crack and caved in causing her to drop down onto Buffy.

They both breathed heavily as the orgasm washed over them.

Alcohol and exhaustion finally overwhelmed Faith and she fell asleep right there on top of Buffy.


	17. Chapter 17

Faith was lying flat on her stomach not realizing what had woken her up at first.

It was only when she felt someone trying to sneak out from under her outstretched left arm that everything that had happened last night came flooding back.

"Oh no B. You're not getting away this time."

Faith curled her arm around Buffy and dragged her back to her side.

Buffy shrieked "J-jesus Faith! Gettof me!"

"That's not what you said last night" Faith said smiling as she finally opened her eyes.

Buffy looked extremely embarrassed and confused. "So we actually... Did we...? No way..."

"Oh yes way." Faith lifted her head from the pillows slightly "You're not pulling that 'I forgot all about it' crap on me again."

"A-again? You mean... we did t-this before?" Buffy looked like she was about to pass out from shock.

"This? You mean fucking like horny rabbits?" Faith grinned and wiggled her eyebrows "No, we didn't do that until last night, we just kissed before, but I won't mind if you want to do _this_ again" She rolled on her side and held Buffy tightly with both arms now.

But Buffy freaked out and sat up as far as Faith's arms allowed her "But... I don't remember any of it!"

"Hmmm, want me to help you remember?" Faith said in a sultry voice as she nibbled on Buffy's shoulder.

"No! Get of me!" She squirmed inside Faith's arms trying to get away.

"Geez B!" Faith laughed trying to restrain her "Don't get you panties in a twist!"

"Oh wait" she continued as Buffy finally managed to throw her off. "You can't. Cause I have them..." Faith pulled out a pair of panties from under her "Right here." she grinned and waved the panties around playfully.

Buffy abandoned her attempt at getting away from Faith and made to grab the panties "Give those back!"

"Never." Faith held the panties away from Buffy as she crawled back towards her "It's like a trophy: The first pair of panties I successfully charmed off you B. I will cherish them forever."

Buffy stopped trying to get back her panties and scowled at Faith "Too bad you had to get me drunk first. Will it still be much of a trophy when people hear you practically date-raped me?"

"Hold it princess." Faith said angrily "Firstly, I would never tell anyone about this without your permission. And secondly, date-rape? It was you who jumped me! And I was equally drunk remember?"

Buffy looked at her incredulously.

"Oh you don't believe me?" Faith scoffed "Look at this then." She showed her back "You clawed at my back the whole way through! And you bit me! Several places... look..."

But Buffy looked away red faced when Faith tried to reveal some of her more private bite marks.

"... and I think I have a hickey..." she felt along her neck "Do I have a hickey?"

Buffy glanced nervously at Faith's neck but didn't answer her question.

"Maybe I bit and scratched you so you would stop..."

Faith just laughed at that "Oh yeah? Do you know many people who would bite their attacker in the boobs and thighs? Besides, you don't get hickeys in a fight."

Buffy turned scarlet again.

"Then why the hell is this room so banged up?"

Faith finally looked around the room and gave a low whistle in astonishment. It did look as if a fight had taken place there. The floor was scattered with the splinters and contents of the destroyed wardrobe, joined by most of what had been standing on the shelves. One of the shelves had actually broken in half when it had collided with Faith's head and all the trinkets and picture frames that had been standing there lay shattered on the floor. One of the curtains had been nearly ripped of its bar and then there was also the bed they were sitting on, its wooded frame completely destroyed. To top it all off they seemed to have ripped up the sheets and most of the cushions on the bed too.

Faith smiled apologetically and shrugged "Well... when slayers get kinky, the furniture is bound to suffer."

"We did this while having sex?"

Faith nodded proudly "Yup. You pushed me into those shelves there while you were dry humping me." she smiled at the memory "The wardrobe was totally my fault though..."

"Dry... dry humping...?" Buffy said weakly.

Faith looked at her and saw a shimmer of a memory in her eyes.

"You remember it, don't you?" Faith grinned "I knew it!"

"Just parts of it." Buffy said defensively "Listen Faith..."

Faith's stomach knotted. She knew what she was going to say.

"...this was a mistake."

"Don't say that B."

"But it was! I was just really really drunk! And I don't even like girls!"

Faith shook her head firmly "I was surprised too B, the first time I fancied a girl..."

"But I don't fancy girls! I like men! Big strong b-burly..." Buffy started to stammer.

"Oh come of it! You wouldn't have slept with me if you didn't fancy me a little..."

"I was drunk!"

"...Wouldn't have jumped me like that..."

"I hardly remember-"

"...Wouldn't have kissed and touched me like that!" Faith added in a louder voice to drown out Buffy's excuses.

"I probably didn't even realize-"

"You moaned my name B!" Faith shouted frustratedly "You enjoyed every second of it! You wanted it! You wanted me!"

Buffy just looked down and shook her head "It was a mistake Faith. I don't get why you're being so difficult about it." she wrapped herself in the sheets a little better and got up from the mattress on the broken bed frame.

Faith sighed and dropped back down on the bed. "Well I'm not giving up."

Buffy just gathered her clothes in silence.

Faith rolled on her side and watched as Buffy dressed "You like me... in some way at least... but you're just too scared to admit it to yourself."

Buffy still refused to reply.

"Coward" Faith shot as she rolled on her back again.

Buffy finally spoke: "Panties please." she held out her hand.

"No. They're mine now, I told you." Faith said scowling "Besides you ripped mine clean off. You owe me." she added in a slightly happier tone.

Buffy swore as she squirmed back into her jeans without panties.

"What is with you anyway?" Buffy asked frowning "I thought you were all about 'get some, get gone'. Why the sudden clinginess?"

"I told you B, I've changed." She looked up into Buffy's eyes "Besides, how could anyone fuck you and not want a second round?"

Buffy studied her carefully, as if to catch her lying.

"Well Parker didn't want a second round."

"Well he's a fucking retard!" Faith said sitting up with fiery eyes.

Buffy blinked but recovered quickly.

"Well it doesn't matter if you want a second round." She said matter-of-factly "I don't want one. Tough luck."

"Tough luck for you, you mean. I won't give up B."

"Please Faith, stalking doesn't suit you."

"It's not stalking if you want me..."

"That's what they all sa-"

"Once you have a new pair of panties on," Faith said grinning confidently "I'll be getting into those as well."

Buffy batted her eyelashes in a silly way "You're so romantic Faith..."

"You'll be back for more. I'm willing to bet my life..."

"Whatever Faith. Just..." Buffy looked at her imploringly "Just don't tell anyone OK?"

"How could you think-?" Faith started angrily.

"Just promise... Please?"

They looked into each others' eyes for a moment before Faith croaked: "Cross my heart."

"Thanks." Buffy said sadly "Now get dressed."

Buffy inspected the damages to the room while Faith wormed back into her super-tight clothes.

"What are we gonna do about all this then?" Buffy gestured at the room while Faith ran her hands through her hair.

"You wanna do something about it?" Faith asked wide-eyed.

"We can't just leave it like this, can we?"

"We can't fix it or pay for it." Faith raised her eyebrows and shrugged "I say we get the hell outta here."

Buffy hesitated for one second longer while she looked round at the wrecked room.

"I- Yeah. Sounds like a great plan." she said nodding.

They both left the room through the window and climbed back down to the ground, Buffy's panties safely stashed inside Faith's back pocket.


	18. Chapter 18

Buffy and Faith made their way back to the dorms in silence.

The sun was already up, but it was still way too early for Faith. Her head hurt and she felt really sticky. She just wanted to shower and get straight back to bed but she also wanted to keep and eye on Buffy...

So when they finally arrived at the dorm, Faith showered and got ready for classes together just like her.

After spending most of last night in her sexiest tight-as-skin outfit, Faith decided she could do with something a bit more comfy today. After all, Buffy had already seen all her goodies on full display last night, there really was no need to flaunt them some more.

So Faith threw on an old pair of ragged jeans and a light blue loose-fitting dress shirt. The shirt had probably belonged to one of her old conquests but she didn't care about that now, she just wanted to wear something that was not not made of leather and stuck to her skin. She also traded in her heavy boots for a new pair of canvas sneakers.

Even though she wasn't wearing a bra, Faith didn't bother buttoning her shirt up all the way.

And instead of make-up she opted for a pair of aviator sunglasses that she had "borrowed" from Giles to hide the dark rings under her eyes.

She ran her hands through her messy hair trying to sort it out a bit but ended up making it even messier, so she gave up and finally slung her bag over her shoulder.

She leaned casually against the door frame and watched Buffy, who obviously needed a bit longer to get ready.

She was certain that the blonde felt something for her... but what that something was exactly Faith couldn't be sure of.

All she could do now was convince Buffy that it wasn't a bad thing to feel _something_ for a girl... or more specifically, for Faith.

Buffy finally turned towards her, stuffing books inside her bag, and stopped in her tracks with a strange look on her face.

"What?" Faith asked frowning.

"I-" Buffy shook her head a little and shrugged "You look... different."

Faith couldn't help herself and said with a large smirk "Like what you see?"

Buffy blushed "No. You just look different. Nice glasses BTW."

"Thanks"

Buffy walked to the door and held it open "You should put some make-up on though."

"I dunno... I kinda like this natural look sometimes" she said as she ran a hand over her face.

"I was talking about your um... neck" Buffy quickly left the room.

Faith grinned widely "And hide these beautiful works of art you gave me? Never."

…

Willow was waiting for them in front of the classroom.

"Hi guys." she said shyly "I'm so sorry about last night. I- Jesus Faith... what happened to your neck? Toothless vampire get you?"

Faith leaned nonchalantly against a nearby wall and just smiled mysteriously.

"You slept with someone didn't you." Willow looked all excited "Well well, I guess good old Faith is finally back huh? I was wondering where all the hunks had gone. I'm gonna need details though..." Willow looked positively giddy now "Handsome? Blonde or dark? Tall? Did I mention handsome already?"

"Blonde. Very sexy. Rather short actually." Faith could almost feel Buffy's furious look burn into her.

"He must've been a real beast in bed though by the looks of it!" Willow took a closer look at Faith's neck "I've never seen anyone with love bites this... painful looking. Are those teeth marks?"

"Yup" Faith said proudly as her eyebrows practically danced around on her forehead "These aren't even the worst ones" she pulled down one side of her shirt slightly to reveal another one on her shoulder "I have hickeys _all over_." She emphasized those last two words in an extra husky tone.

Willow gaped at her with an open mouth, ready to fire more questions but Buffy interrupted with a cough.

"Let's not go to deeply into Faith's love life please. We might catch an STD." the girl in question shot her a foul look "We were worried about you Will. What was up with you last night?"

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Willow finally ripped her eyes away from Faith "Just some boyfriend stuff. Nothing to worry about. I'm just sorry I spoiled the party yesterday."

"Finally realized Oz would never cheat on you?"

"Yeah. Tara talked some sense into me for most of the night. She's so kind." Willow smiled dreamily "And of course Oz would never cheat on me. I was just drunk. I'm a sad drunk apparently." She mused.

"Well that was an easy fix..."

"It's not quite over yet" Willow crossed her arms in a determined way "Tonight I'm gonna show him that that Veruca bitch has got nothing on me."

"Alright Red!" Faith gave her a slap on the shoulder making her wince "I didn't think you had it in ya!"

"Isn't tonight a full moon though?"

"Uh yeah. I actually meant this afternoon... but it sounded less impressive."

"A sexy matinee!" Faith joked "That's a great concept Red. Maybe you and I should have one B?"

Willow didn't even bat an eye at the remark thinking it was probably their usual playful flirting but Buffy still shot Faith a dangerous look that told her she better kept quiet from hereon out.

…

Faith only dared open her mouth again when they were all tucked in the back of a dark classroom, Willow engrossed in her textbook.

She leaned in close to Buffy and whispered in her ear "Hey B, even you best friend agrees with me that you're an animal in the sack."

"You're playing a dangerous game here F" Buffy replied coldly "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone. And I'm don't like broken promises." She rubbed her fist menacingly.

Faith looked reproachful at Buffy's fists. She might be tiny but she could sure as hell pack a punch.

Faith leaned in again only this time a little less close "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone. But I never promised I would give up on you..."

Buffy just huffed.

"I know you feel something for me B. After last night, you can't deny it."

"Give it up Faith" Buffy hissed "Alcohol changes people. Just look at Willow."

"Change? I think it just shows their real feelings a little clearer."

"Professor Walsh would be proud of that analysis." Buffy said dryly.

"I wonder if you ever got so wild with Angel?"

"Don't you dare go there..."

"Maybe I should ask him if you charged him like you did me... If you bit and scratched like a little cat?"

"Let me answer that for you" Buffy said finally turning to her "No. I didn't. You know why? Because I loved Angel and it wasn't just some drunken fling. That doesn't bode well for you now does it?" she snapped.

Faith wanted to retort but found herself unable. All she could do was stare shocked and hurt at Buffy.

Buffy caught the look on her face and softened immediately.

"I- I'm sorry Faith. I didn't think... I just... you should just give up on me. Please?"

"I can't do that B." Faith croaked.

Buffy looked at her with her mouth slightly open "Are you really that serious ab-?"

"Will the two ladies in the back please shut their cake-holes?"

Everyone looked as the professor scolded them. They quickly sunk lower into their seats and mumbled their apologies.

Despite Buffy's hurtful remark, Faith had no plans of throwing the towel in the ring just yet.


	19. Chapter 19

When Faith walked into the room the next morning she was faced with a bit of a surprise.

"B what the hell are you doing?"

Buffy was standing in front of Faith's bed stand looking incredibly guilty.

"Nothing." she said playing at innocence.

"Nothing? Really?" Faith grinned "Cause I could've sworn you were rifling through my stuff just a minute ago."

The look on her face gave Buffy away immediately but she persisted "N-no. I was just..." She turned her head to the bed "it was... Merlin! He fell on the floor." Buffy looked back at Faith "Put him back on your pillow. See?" she pointed back at the rag doll on Faith's bed.

Faith kept grinning "Riiight"

"I'm telling the truth!" Buffy put her hands on her sides angrily but when Faith continued to grin at her in a knowing way she finally gave in.

"Alright. You caught me" She threw up her hands in defeat "I just want my panties back. Where are they?"

Faith laughed and walked further into the room.

"So stubborn." she shook her head slowly "But I won't give them back. Feel free to take on of mine instead."

Buffy made a face "Ew no!"

Faith just shrugged and threw herself on her bed "Suit yourself."

"I want them back Faith. Either you hand them over freely or I'll make you."

"All this for a pair of panties..." Faith raised her eyebrows as she grabbed a magazine "Is there some treasure in there I overlooked? Cause I was pretty sure I got it all..."

"They were a present from my late great-grandmother. Happy now?" Buffy joked but she didn't look as if she were about to laugh.

"I'm sure your great-grandmother would've liked me to have them."

"Give 'em back Faith" Buffy warned.

"You know what? I think you're just scared I'll show them to people, to prove so-"

"Of course I am!" Buffy shouted furiously "So give them back!"

"You do realize that, being your roommate, a pair of panties wouldn't be much proof-"

But Buffy didn't seem to be listening, she stepped forward in a menacing way and shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Give me back my fucking panties or I'll-!"

Faith never did find out what Buffy would do to her as at that exact moment Willow rushed in.

"Willow!" Buffy paled "I- I- was just..."

But Buffy didn't have to find an excuse. Willow didn't look as if she'd heard anything that Buffy had shouted. And even if she did, she might not have cared, as she was crying her eyes out.

The redhead flung herself into Buffy's arms and sobbed loudly.

"Will? What's wrong?" Buffy tried to catch her eyes but Willow buried her face in her friend's chest "Come on... Sit down and tell me."

Buffy coaxed Willow to sit down on her bed while a confused Faith looked at them and sat up a little.

Willow finally looked up at Buffy and tried to tell her what was wrong in between sobs.

"O-Oz. H-he... Veruca... He ch-cheated on me... he slept with... h-her." she finally managed to stutter out.

Buffy and Faith briefly exchanged a look.

Buffy caressed her friend's back and she softly asked "Are you sure about that Will? I mean..."

"I'm fucking sure! They were l-lying together naked!" Willow shot in unexpected anger.

Buffy jumped "I- y-yeah of course."

Rule number one: never doubt a girl who has just been cheated on. Thinking about it, this was probably the first time Faith heard Willow swear.

"I'm sorry Willow." Buffy said as she threw an arm around her "I just never expected..."

"She's the second werewolf you saw." Willow said blankly.

"Oh... well... maybe he was trying to-"

"He wasn't. There was more going on there, I'm sure of it." Willow looked more dead than alive by now. She had even stopped crying.

Buffy looked concerned for her friend but got up swiftly.

"I'll go find this bitch for you." Buffy said decisively "We'll lock her up tonight so she can't hurt anyone and after that you can confront her."

Willow didn't reply.

Buffy placed a hand on her shoulder "We'll sort this out somehow. Just... don't do anything rash. OK?"

Willow just nodded absentmindedly.

Buffy continued to gaze down at her friend for a bit before she turned back to Faith "Get the tranquilizer gun. We're going hunting."

Faith swung her feet from her bed and obeyed immediately. It had been a while since anything exciting had happened so she was ready for action.

…

It turned out things could get a little bit too exciting even for Faith.

She dropped down on her bed with a sigh. "Well that wasn't good."

"No it wasn't." Buffy stood by her wardrobe trying to clean a bloodstain off her jacket and finally looked up from her task "You think she'll be okay?"

They'd left the devastated Willow with Tara, who'd immediately taken care of her. She did turn out to be a good friend. Even though they couldn't tell her everything there was to the story.

"As okay as one can be after seeing your wolfed out boyfriend shred his mistress to bloody little pieces."

"Point taken. At least you managed to prevent any physical damage. Thanks for that."

"If I'd hit him a bit earlier I could've prevented some mental scars too..." Faith said bitterly.

Buffy gave her a funny look "Don't say that. You can't blame yourself for everything..."

When Faith didn't look wholly convinced Buffy continued "He's a werewolf. It's a miracle nothing like this has happened before. And I know this sounds bad but... I'm just happy it was Veruca... and not one of us."

"She was a bit of a bitch wasn't she? But maybe she just didn't have anyone to help her like Oz did..." Faith added sadly. She had done some really bad stuff too, back when she had found herself friendless. If Faith hadn't come to Sunnydale and met the gang, she would probably still be up to no good. And no-one would've cared if she lived or died...

"Oz tried to help her."

"Huh?" Faith tried to shake the cold sensation she had gotten in the pit of her stomach "Yeah I suppose you're right..."

"You're acting strange... You didn't get bitten did you?" Buffy said with mock concern "You already leave enough hairs lying around as it is."

"Don't worry Little Red Riding Hood, you're quite safe from the big bad wolf. For now..." Faith rubbed her eyes "I'm just tired. A lot has happened today."

"Yeah... it's late. Let's go to bed."

"Ah..." Faith smiled contently "I could make so many dirty jokes about what you just said... but I'm afraid I'm gonna have to burst my own bubble here."

"Finally ran out of gas?" Buffy said hopefully.

"No no, I have much more indecent proposals for you. But right now we don't have time for any of those... or sleep."

"Why?"

"We still have to read like... 11 whole chapters for creepy Crawley."

Buffy groaned and threw her head back "Nooo. I can't deal with this right now! I'm too tired... I'll just skip it."

"Bad idea B." Faith warned.

"He already hates my guts." Buffy shrugged "How could it get worse?"

Faith would normally be all for skipping homework. But this particular piece of homework was an excellent way for her to test how their friendship had suffered after their hook-up.

"C'mon B, you've been doing so well lately. You can't just give up now." she hesitated "We could do it together, you know, like always?" she suggested hopefully.

Buffy crossed her arms and pulled up her shoulders. Always a bad sign. An alarm in Faith's head went off: Buffy probably knew what she was hoping for.

"Listen Faith... what happened before can't happen again..."

"You made that abundantly clear already" Faith said in a rather hollow voice.

"I just want to make sure you get it."

"I get it."

Faith had tried to hide the disappointment in her voice but realized she failed when Buffy said "Please don't try to make me feel bad about just wanting to be friends."

Then maybe you shouldn't try make _me_ feel bad for wanting something more, Faith thought bitterly.

"I want nothing more than to just be friends again B." she lied.

Buffy smiled "I'm glad. I've been having so much fun with you and I don't want to complicate that."

Faith didn't remind Buffy that Parker had used that exact same line not so long ago. She also didn't bother telling Buffy that things could be a lot more fun between the two of them when sex was involved.

No, right now the most important thing was to put Buffy's mind at ease. Even if she had to lie for that. She would never get anywhere if Buffy was always on her guard around her.

And her strategy seemed to have worked...

Buffy settled down next to her on the bed as always. The only difference this time was that Faith didn't push her luck with sneaky touches and looks.

It wasn't time for that yet...


	20. Chapter 20

Faith had really hoped that her soothing words and playful jests after the whole werewolf debacle would have been enough to lull Buffy back into a false sense of safety where their friendship was concerned. But when had she ever been so lucky?

Buffy may have said that she didn't want to ruin the friendship they had, but then went ahead and kind of broke her own rules by being extremely evasive. So Faith hardly ever saw her these days and when she did, Buffy made sure they were never alone for too long.

You would think that might be hard seeing how they were roommates and all, but it was surprisingly easy for Buffy to find an excuse now that Oz had done a bunk. Willow had taken it very hard of course and needed her best friend for support. Faith got that, she really did, so at first she had tried to be patient, but as the weeks crept by she couldn't help but feel that Buffy was using the situation as to not have to deal with her. After all, wasn't Tara also around to help? She and Willow had become fast friends and it seemed like they hardly spent a moment apart. So was it really necessary for Buffy to stick around all the time as well? Especially that deep into the night? Faith had wanted to confront Buffy about all this and had actually waited up for her return so they could finally have a moment alone. But when Buffy graced her with her presence at long last, Faith's tentative tries at a serious conversation were quickly cut short because it was late and "they really should get some sleep". And when Faith woken up the next morning she wasn't at all surprised to find Buffy had already gone.

After that failed attempt Buffy seemed even less eager to be caught alone by her and seemed to disappear completely whenever there wasn't a class or a Willow pity party to go to.

So even though she was absolutely worthless at comforting anyone and she was like to jump out of a window in embarrassment whenever someone cried in front of her, Faith had gone to Willow's room several times in the hopes of catching Buffy there. Faith had gotten through a few of these uncomfortable meetings by patting a forlorn Willow on the back and awkwardly offering a few empty words of comfort. But so far her visits had gotten her nowhere (aside from maybe scoring a few friendship points with poor Willow), as she never even saw trace of Buffy whenever she went there.

Frustrated and angry she had finally given up on forcing Buffy to deal with her, and sullenly wondered why was she in such a rush anyway. The blonde had made it clear that she wanted nothing more than friendship from her and that was a far cry from her own desires. Nothing good could come from a confrontation between the two of them right now.

Faith had been meaning to continue her conquest of Buffy's heart (and body), because she had assumed that their one night stand had actually meant something to her. But the more time past, the less she was convinced of that. Buffy hadn't seen much action since Angel, so perhaps she had just grabbed the nearest warm body to satisfy her needs. Needs she never would have admitted to if she had been sober...

The thought alone hurt her more than she could say. And the realization that Buffy could hurt her like that only succeeded in angering her further. "If Buffy is so intent on ignoring me, well, why don't I just help her along?" she thought fuming.

So for the past week she too had steered clear of Buffy. Not that that was hard when her fellow slayer was doing the exact same thing but she put some effort in it anyway, staying out late and skipping classes, so she would at least realize Faith was missing. And maybe the realization would make her feel bad... and maybe she would apologize... and... and...

Faith cursed herself for being so pathetic. She hated feeling this way. So weak and clingy. Resorting to childish plans to make Buffy take notice of her.

But Buffy never took notice. That or she never even cared. Most like she was happy about not having to deal with her. Buffy had gotten her kicks and now she didn't even have to face the consequences. Faith should be happy too. Wasn't this what she always wanted? Get some, get gone. Well she had gotten some of the perfect and holy little miss Buffy. She should be proud for prying those stubborn legs apart even once. She should just walk away with her head held high and a cocky grin plastered on her face.

But this was Buffy... her friend, her first real friend. The first person she'd opened up to in years. Something which didn't come as natural to Faith as it did to other people. Even Giles, who was almost like a father to her now, had to guess rather than hear what she was feeling. Which to his credit, he didn't do a half bad. But Buffy only needed to look at her and the thoughts came spilling out. In a jumble mostly and peppered with racy jokes, but all true.

Had she really just ruined all that by wanting more? Had she been too assuming and messed up?

That just made her angry all over again. She couldn't help her feelings. And there is nothing wrong with trying to find out if the other person feels the same way. If anyone was at fault here it was Buffy. If it was really as she said, and she didn't want nothing more from Faith than friendship, then she shouldn't have messed with her like that. Drunk or sober, there was no excuse.

With angry thoughts like that pounding through her brain, Faith had spent most of her time these past few days either cooped up in bed or drinking alone in a corner of the college bar. Some nights she would consider picking someone up at random for a quick shag to relieve some of her frustrations. There was no lack of candidates at least, coming to her table and offering her drink and company. It made her feel powerful again, the way she had felt before Buffy had messed her up. More than once she felt the strong urge to just go with the first good looking guy that offered, but in the end she always shook her head and chased him off.

She wasn't like that anymore, right? She had made a promise to herself. She was a different person now. A better person.

But the only reason she had wanted to be this better person was for her, for Buffy. The knowledge nearly drove her into the bed of the nearest stranger. But she resisted. She could still be a better person. For her own sake. A better person than her mother ever had been. A better person than all the cocksuckers who'd done her injustice in the past.

But her resolve was slowly breaking now. This was the seventh night in a row that she'd spent in the bar just to get away from her own dorm room. And now that Xander's shift was done and he'd skipped of to his new girlfriend, Anya, she was starting to feel awfully lonely.

And the news she'd had from Willow earlier that day wasn't helping either. Apparently Buffy and the meaty teaching assistant Riley had gone out on an unofficial date aided by Willow, who had been almost giddy when she told Faith it had gone really well, apart from the fact that they had been interrupted by Spike for a brief while.

She had tried not to take the news to heart but felt ill when she heard nonetheless. And she must have done a poor job of hiding it as both Willow and Tara suddenly asked if she was feeling alright. Both of them had been too caught up in each other these past few weeks to notice that Buffy and Faith had not exactly been on speaking terms. So she just mumbled something about bad cafeteria food and fled.

She had only seen this Riley guy once or twice from afar. His big muscular appearance in combination with the puppy dog eyes had reminded her of Angel in a way. Yet he was also very different. Happy looking rather than brooding. Human rather than vampire. Normal. And most importantly: of the male sex. He was everything that she knew Buffy would be looking for. And that left her even angrier and more frustrated than ever.

Her head had started pounding painfully by then, so she figured it was best to put Buffy out of her mind for now. And she had to stop thinking about sex as well. Or else her resolve would finally break and the next guy with the balls to offer her a drink would have a very lucky night.

It would've helped if she had gotten a good kill in lately, but even in that she was disappointed. The area around the campus was strangely devoid of vampires or demons these past few weeks. Had they finally realized that two slayers had made their hunting ground here? Usually that fact seemed to attract more evil than it repelled but it didn't seem entirely unlikely.

Faith had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that it took her a while to notice that a hush had traveled through the bar, slowly reaching its way to the back of the room while the people nearest to the entrance had already gone back to their earlier conversations.

Faith knew that hush. She had heard it before. She slowly lifted her eyes from the sticky tabletop in front of her and spotted her immediately.

The girl sauntered up to the bar tall and graceful as a deer, drawing eyes from every person she passed. Faith couldn't blame them for looking, she could hardly keep her eyes away from this unknown girl herself.

She was about the same height as Faith but her long sinewy limbs made her seem quite a bit taller. And despite her lean build she had a dangerous look about her, looking much more a predator than prey. She had dressed rather plainly in worn jeans and a one shoulder tank top the color of moss. Her only accessories beside the many tiny sliver rings in her ears were a crudely minted ancient bronze coin hanging around her slender neck and a broad silver armlet. Her skin had a natural tan and her face was free of any make-up. Her auburn hair was shaggy and unevenly cut with a faint copper sheen to it. It was quite short, hardly reaching down to her shoulders and yet she had managed to put up the back into a tiny swirling bun. The rest of it she let hanging down over her slim face, shaggy and unkempt, nearly covering her eyes. Her eyes were definitely her most intriguing feature, darkly lined, thin and amber colored. They looked calm and hungry all at once, with a color so strange they were both alluring and yet unnatural on a human. Her high cheekbones and thin almost colorless lips only added to her strange and almost supernatural beauty.

Faith had found her unnerving at first, showing up out of nowhere (Faith was certain she had never seen her around campus until four days ago) and able to draw all eyes in the room toward her in an instant. But after she had studied the girl for a little while longer she had realized that it was not just her look that made the girl so captivating. Her attraction was all in the way she walked and talked, the confident air around her and the dangerous look in her eyes. Faith must have had a similar look of danger about her once, before Buffy had come along and cut it away.

Though, maybe it wasn't all gone just yet...

Why else would those amber eyes seek her out again for a fourth night in a row? Faith slowly dropped her gaze back to the sticky table in front of her and took another lazy swig of her beer.

Faith knew this staring game all too well. The first time she had seen it she had been but fourteen. And back then, it had saved a blonde, kind-eyed youth from her pubescent claws. While she had unknowingly tried to seduce him, he had spend the whole of the night exchanging looks with a slightly older darker boy. When the older boy had finally mustered up the courage to come up to them, the blonde guy had gathered up his coat, smiled kindly down at her and apologized for not being the boy she might've hoped he was. It took her a while before she understood what had happened that night. And when she finally got it it, it hadn't been that long before she had tried it out for herself.

When you didn't wish to bother with gay bars and you didn't want to embarrass yourself by accidentally chatting up a straight person, these eye contact games were a great solution. The only downside to them was the fact that they could be extremely tedious, making and breaking eye contact until one of the two finally felt safe enough to approach.

Faith could think of no other reason why this girl would so insistently stare at her, and her alone. The staring was so obvious that Faith could practically feel those amber eyes burning a path on her skin, causing goosebumps to erupt wherever they strayed. So far though she had stubbornly refused to meet them.

She pulled a cigarette from the packet in front of her and lit it. She breathed in the smoke deeply and let it out in a sigh. Nothing like a cigarette to calm a person down. The swirl of thoughts in her head subsided somewhat and it became easier to think clearly.

Would she finally go for it this night?

She had seriously considered it yesterday. But thoughts of her night with Buffy and the possibility that there might still be feelings there seriously weakened her resolve, and she had ended up deciding against it.

She took another drag of her cigarette and leaned forward onto table with her elbows. She studied the wet circles her beer bottle had left on the sticky surface and blew smoke down onto them in long swirling tendrils.

She had regretted her decision soon enough when she had walked into her own empty dorm room, having to sleep there another night with no other company than Merlin. And had stared at the empty bed across the room for a long time before sleep would finally come.

Why consider Buffy's possible feelings though when she wouldn't even face her as a friend? 'And this while she is most likely messing about with the friendly giant, Riley.' thought Faith as she flicked the ashes of her cigarette, annoyed.

"Fuck her" she mumbled under her breath and finally looked up into the hungry eyes across the room.

_Hi everyone. First of: I'm truly ashamed for not updating for such a long time... Shit happened and I couldn't get my life on track anymore. In fact I'm still not quite right. But I won't bother you with details here. I hope you're not too upset with me over this and you'll still continue to read my story. I promise to try my hardest to write more regularly from now on. _

_I'm still having some trouble with chapter 21 actually... I decided to follow your advice and have Faith hook up with someone else. I have decided what to do from there on out but I can't avoid introducing this girl, Asena, a little further in the next chapter before continuing. I always got kinda awkward writing that part though. I've tried different approaches:  
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_-I first tried starting things from where I left of: in the bar. And included a sex scene. But it was a bit weird seeing how it was about a character only just introduced and I got stuck.  
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_-I then tried starting from the morning after, with Faith waking next to Asena (still asleep) and reacting in a few different ways. First I have her react kind of awkwardly because she is unsure how to deal with a person staying over after sex. I thought it would be hillarious to have Faith awkwardly suggest breakfast but it didn't feel right in the end. Then I took the more Faith-like approach, having her be confident and sexy. This, in my mind, resulted in a pre-breakfast tumble but as I've already established, I'm not ver good with sex scenes. It gets awkward.  
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_-Last option was the one I felt most comfortable with. I skipped the waking up part and put them in a greasy diner for breakfast, bonding over their love for food and their easy going nature. I may have Faith briefly go over the events of that night in her head so that it's a bit more clear and all, but I haven't really decided yet. I mostly just wanted a chapter to show how comfortable Faith and Asena are with each other in contrast to Faith and Buffy.  
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_So what do you think? Which of these three options sounds best to you? Or do you have any different ideas for me? Feel free to put you thoughts down below. I'll happily read them and will be most thankful for your advice.  
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_Hope to "see" (more like write) you soon.  
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